Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

Stop All Tax Giveaways to Millionaires – Invest in Children

Mar 11, 2003

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WAGES A BUDGET WAR
ON AMERICA?’S CHILDREN
WHILE LAVISHING BILLIONS IN TAX CUTS ON MILLIONAIRES




Stop All Tax Giveaways to Millionaires ?– Invest in Children.

The 2001 Bush tax cut when fully in place (2010) gives $121 billion in tax cuts to the richest 1% of Americans with average incomes over a million dollars.
The President?’s new 2003 tax plan gives even more money to those who need it least. Just one part of that 2003 tax plan, the elimination of taxes on dividends, would pay for comprehensive health insurance for all uninsured children and Head Start for every preschool child who needs it.
Stop the Bush administration?’s plan to dismantle Head Start, block grant Medicaid, and eliminate, slash and freeze crucial children?’s programs under the guise of "state flexibility." Giving control of these critical programs to deficit-ridden states awash in a sea of red ink puts the most vulnerable children at risk of a double budget buzz saw.

Head Start has helped more than 20 million children develop the skills they need to succeed in school. The administration plan would eliminate national standards and requirements for comprehensive services that have made Head Start such a success. Instead, Congress should expand Head Start and Early Head Start to serve all needy eligible children.
Medicaid and CHIP provide health care to nearly 30 million children in America. The administration?’s budget will force children to compete with seniors and people with disabilities for already inadequate resources and give states the authority to take needed health services away from children. Instead, Congress should provide health coverage for all uninsured children, 90% of whom live in working families.
Stop the Bush administration budget proposals that would:

cut 30,000 children from child care assistance this year -- 200,000 over five years while requiring mothers leaving welfare to work more hours;
cut 570,000 children from after school programs; and
create new bureaucratic barriers for disadvantaged children to get school lunches and for working parents to get their tax credits.
Make Children the Top National Priority by Supporting the Dodd-Miller Act to Leave No Child Behind.

The comprehensive Dodd-Miller Act to Leave No Child Behind (S. 448/H.R. 936) (not to be confused with the under-funded Bush No Child Left Behind education bill) recognizes that children don?’t come in pieces, but live in families and in communities. We know what children need but provide it for too few children. The Act will give every child in America a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start and a Safe Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.
February 12, 2003