The U.S. Congress must reject President Donald Trump’s plans to make disastrous cuts to child care and eliminate Head Start!

We have witnessed a barrage of attacks on child care and Head Start by President Trump and his administration since he took office. Most recently, leaked details of Trump’s Presidential Budget revealed his reckless plans to eliminate Head Start, threatening to rip child care from over 770,000 children across our country. This, along with the Trump administration’s closure of Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) offices serving child care programs throughout the country, and mass firings of federal early childhood offices, spells disaster for our nation’s kids, families, businesses, and economy.

These reckless actions by the Trump administration will throw a child care system that is already broken and massively under-resourced into further turmoil, pushing parents out of the labor force, harming small businesses, and hurting our economy.

As a concerned member of our community and a passionate advocate for children and families, I know these attacks on child care and Head Start will have devastating long-term consequences for our children, families, economy, and the future of our country. I urge our members of Congress to rein in the Trump administration’s devastating attacks on child care and Head Start by rejecting any cuts to these vital programs. Our children’s future and our economy depend on it.

MARY O’NEILL,

Presque Isle