STATEMENT: President asks Congress to “turn its back” on kids, advocate says

Lawmakers must vote “NO” on rescission package

In response to President Trump’s request to Congress yesterday to approve his Administration’s refusal to distribute previously appropriated funds, First Focus on Children President Bruce Lesley issued the following statement:

“President Trump has asked Congress to legalize his claw back of $8.3 billion, much of it earmarked for the world’s poorest children. Some of that money, for example, was slated by Congress for the prevention of suffering and death of children under 5 from dirty water, infectious disease or malnutrition. Other funds were set aside to protect AIDS orphans from sex trafficking. Our nation gave these children our word that we would safeguard their well-being.

Now the President is asking Congress to turn its back on these kids and give up its constitutional power of the purse. The Administration already has successfully decimated foreign assistance. The U.S. Agency for International Development no longer exists and what’s left of its programming will be folded into the State Department. The President has no constitutional authority — and certainly no moral authority — to grab back the funding that Congress previously promised to children to keep them alive.

Congress must vote “No” on the President’s rescission package. And lawmakers must send the clearest possible message to President Trump that they control the nation’s money and that it must be spent in the way they direct.”