Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) today criticized budget plans adopted by the Senate for next year, calling them one of the worst examples of this country's misplaced priorities. CDF said the plans play "Robin Hood in reverse"—providing tax cuts for the wealthy and underfunding programs that serve lower-income families and children. While the Senate adopted a few amendments that improve the budget plan for America's families and children, overall it still does more harm than good, said CDF.

"It is unconscionable that the U.S. Senate would even have considered cutting Medicaid, the lifeline for millions of children, and imposing a tax increase on low-income families, while giving billions of dollars in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans," said Marian Wright Edelman, President of CDF. "For all the stunning scientific and technological progress Americans have made, we still fail to provide the most basic needs for all our children. The budget passed by the Senate today makes it absolutely clear that America does not have a resource problem, it has a priorities problem."

The Senate budget would force significant cuts in programs such as education, health care, and child welfare. Funding for some domestic programs would be cut by $14.4 billion in 2005, growing to a cut of more than $100 billion over the next five years. The budget would underfund education reform by more than $8 billion next year and would flat fund child care assistance, cutting services for at least 200,000 children. The budget plan includes no funding to allow for responsible welfare reform, which could deny transitional health care, child support fixes and other resources needed to help families move from welfare to work.

CDF supported, and the Senate adopted, an amendment offered by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) that eliminated an $11 billion cut to the Medicaid program and prevented a tax increase of $3 billion on low-income workers receiving the Earned Income Tax Credit.

CDF also supported, and the Senate adopted, an amendment offered by Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) to require that tax cuts be paid for in full. While President Bush and the original Senate budget resolution proposed that tax cuts be given to the wealthy by adding to the national debt, the Senate rejected that approach and agreed that the cost of tax cuts should not automatically be passed on to our children.

The Children's Defense Fund reiterated that despite these improvements, the Senate budget still underfunds critical supports for children and families including child care, Head Start, juvenile justice, housing, and education. The budget also would increase deficits above current projections, saddling our children with additional debts. The Senate rejected critical amendments that could have fixed this budget before passing it in an almost party-line vote of 51 to 45.

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The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. We have never taken government funds.