Early education provides an economic engine for children, families and the country, experts said today on Capitol Hill, and it cannot succeed without public investment.

“Child care is one of the things that makes all other work possible,” Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) told Early Gains, Lifelong Returns, a briefing hosted by First Focus on Children. “There’s no market solution…There has to be investment and to me that’s a good investment. We’re still fighting for that funding.”

The budget released this month by President Trump effectively cuts many early education programs, such as Head Start, and eliminates many other programs outright.

“When we get kids off to a good start in life, it’s better for kids, it’s better for communities, it’s better for the economy and it’s better for the country,” Bonamici said.

The evidence is more than anecdotal. A strong body of research going back to the 1960s has found that these interventions reduced crime, improved educational attainment, boosted cognitive development, increased employment, and improved health. The benefits for taxpayers were just as impressive, with $2.50 of savings for every $1 invested due to less need for support later in life.

“I’m not sure there is a policy area that has been more thoroughly vetted and more convincingly proven to be worth the money we spend than these programs,” First Focus on Children economist Chris Becker said. “The evidence base here is overwhelming.”

Many current studies, such as the School Experiences and Early Development (SEED) program in Tulsa, Okla., are adding to that body of work. Georgetown University professor Anna Johnson leads the longitudinal study that began in 2016 with children before they attended the city’s universal pre-K program. Researchers have found that students attending Tulsa’s universal pre-K exhibit better language and math skills through elementary school, and better executive function.

“There’s something about pre-K that’s teaching kids how to pay attention, persist when things get hard, and keep succeeding,” Johnson said.

Families and communities benefit as well as children, said Dr. Susan Savage, research director of the Child Care Resource Center, a non-profit organization serving Northern Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties. In the center’s service area, Savage said, government-supported child care makes it possible for more than 55,000 parents to work, creating a total of $1.3 billion in family earnings that gets invested in the local community.

“These families are making on average $25,000 a year,” Savage said. “They’re not going to the Bahamas. They’re going to the gas station, the grocery store and Walmart.”

The cascading impact of subsidized child care, Savage added, helps families pay rent, get jobs that give them access to health care, and even escape homelessness.

The Trump Administration’s FY 2026 budget proposal would eliminate several preschool development block grants and a program that helps college students with children afford child care. It would also “flat-fund” the Child Care and Development Block Grant and the Head Start program, leaving investment at FY 2025 levels.

“Flat funding, especially in this current economy, is essentially a cut,” said Casey Peeks, senior director, Early Childhood Policy at the Center for American Progress. “You will see less families receiving subsidies, Head Start teachers unable to get wage increases, and you’ll see Head Start programs close classrooms.

“Long-term,” she added, “we want universal, free, birth-through-5 early childhood education. It’s important to call it ‘education’. This is setting kids up for success. If we have a free and universal K-12 system, we should also have free, universal pre-K.”

For more information, read Research Confirms that Early Learning Investments Increase Benefits to Children, Lower Costs to Taxpayers.

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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.”

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The House of Representatives, the people elected to protect Americans and our children, have voted to sacrifice babies for billionaires. There is nothing in the big bill that lawmakers passed last night that is beautiful for children, but the absolute gutting of children’s food and health care is particularly ugly. Under this bill, over 10 million people, including children, will lose access to health care, millions of others will go hungry. And that’s before we even get to the provisions that will decimate public education by installing a federal voucher program that is specifically designed to help wealthy people avoid capital gains taxes. Or the Child Tax Credit that will leave behind 20 million children because their parents make too little to qualify and will discriminate against nearly 5 million young citizens because their parents don’t have a Social Security number. Or the myriad other cuts that will intentionally harm children.

This bill is a throwback to the Gilded Age, when the uber-wealthy controlled industry and government, and everyone else — especially children — shouldered the burdens. The bill also increases the debt by trillions of dollars – yet another burden we will ask the next generation to shoulder.

That said, I believe there is hope: the majority of the 500+ amendments that were filed in the Rules Committee were about defending and protecting the nation’s children from these cuts. Members were not allowed to vote on those amendments, but they were able to lift up the negative consequences that this bill will have on our nation’s children and families. Although some disingenuous lawmakers continue to insist that children will not be harmed, First Focus Campaign for Children will continue to support all efforts to make children’s needs and concerns heard and to get them addressed.

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We are pleased that the Supreme Court has affirmed the importance of traditional public schools as the bedrock of our democracy. Earlier this year, First Focus on Children joined an amicus brief regarding this case filed by 14 organizations emphasizing our commitment to equitable, secular, well-funded public schools. Allowing a religious charter school could create a completely new reality for the nation’s public education system, one in which secular schools are competing with religious schools for funding and where the only option for some students is a religious charter school. This measure would have inherently harmed traditional public schools and the students who rely on them, and would have disproportionately affected students with disabilities.

At a time when public education is under attack, it is vital that we preserve the right of students to high-quality traditional public education. Just yesterday, the House passed a budget that includes a provision to create a federal private school voucher system. Federal vouchers would harm public schools across the country and make it more difficult for all students, particularly students with disabilities, to receive a high-quality public education.

We are pleased that the Court has rejected the notion of religious charter schools and protected students’ right to a public secular education. Now, it is important to continue fighting for public school funds to remain in public schools.” 

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A new report released today by First Focus on Children, UnidosUS, and AFL-CIO finds that nearly 45% of all children in the United States — or 34 million kids — rely on Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or both for essential health care and food. The report, “Children Under Attack: How Congressional Assaults on Health and Food Programs are Endangering the Youngest Americans,” offers the first analysis of the combined impact of cuts proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives’ budget reconciliation bill.

Passing this budget would result in the largest Medicaid cuts in American history and the most severe reductions to SNAP in nearly three decades, endangering all children, but especially those from Latino and other historically marginalized communities. The cuts also pose a “double jeopardy” to 14 million children who rely on both Medicaid and SNAP. Those children, who could lose health care and food at the same time, include 20% of all children under the age of 5.

The report’s findings are stark:

• Children of color are disproportionately affected under the proposal’s cuts:
  • 58% of Latino children  
  • 67% of Native America children
  • 65% of Black children
• Over one-third of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) children benefit from at least one of these programs.

“Children and families across America are at risk of losing affordable health coverage and access to healthy meals to pay for a massive tax cut for billionaires and big corporations,” said Rep. Kathy Castor, Co-Chair of the Congressional Children’s Health Care Caucus. “It’s wrong and fiscally unwise – and will set children back at a time that they need support. When children have a healthy start in life, they are more likely to succeed in school, the workplace and in life. The Republican cuts to care and food for kids could result in developmental delays, serious health problems like cancer that could have been treated successfully, learning losses and barriers to a high school diploma.”

“First Focus on Children and UnidosUS help shine the light on the long-term damage to kids that would result from the GOP billionaire tax giveaway,” she added. “Their new report serves as a call to action to reject the billionaire tax giveaway and instead focus on what makes children across America healthy and strong. The fight is far from over.”

Additionally, three-out-of-four children threatened by Medicaid and SNAP cuts also have working parents without a college degree — the very demographic group many lawmakers claim to support. These parents are often employed in low-wage jobs that do not offer health insurance or paid leave, leaving their families especially dependent on Medicaid and SNAP to meet basic needs. Cutting these federal programs would deal a direct blow to families who are already doing their best just to get by day-to-day.

“There is nothing in this big bill that’s beautiful for children,” said First Focus on Children President Bruce Lesley, “but the gigantic cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are particularly ugly. Children already are struggling with rising infant and child mortality, increased poverty, and growing rates of hunger, homelessness and a lack of health insurance. These proposed cuts would dig deeper into this crisis, depriving millions more children of food and health care that support their well-being. Lawmakers talk a good game about protecting children, but the actions of this Congress blatantly target them for harm.”

The report also outlines the far-reaching consequences of these proposed cuts. Without SNAP and Medicaid, more children will face hunger, developmental delays, and untreated medical conditions, including chronic illnesses that could have been prevented with early care. The ripple effects extend to school meal programs and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), both of which depend on Medicaid and SNAP eligibility for participation. Additionally, the nearly $1 trillion in lost federal investment would trigger an estimated loss of over 1 million jobs in 2026 alone, destabilizing local economies and deepening hardship for families nationwide.

“Earlier this year, Republicans took control of the Congress and made three core promises: to bring costs under control for everyday people; to protect America’s children; and to stand up for working-class families, including those in the Latino community who voted them into power,” said Senior Vice President of UnidosUSEric Rodriguez. “Today’s report shows how their massive budget plan would break those promises. It makes history’s largest cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, taking away the health care and food assistance on which millions rely to help them work and make ends meet.”

“Nearly half of all American children, including three-in-five Latino children, are threatened by their budget bill,” he added. “And three quarters of all children relying on Medicaid for health care or SNAP for food come from working-class families, with parents who are in the labor force and do not have a college degree. These cuts would not make anyone economically better off and represent a broken promise to the voters that elected them. The Congress should change course before the voters change their minds.”

The report debuted today during a briefing featuring Rep. Castor, Mr. Lesley and Mr. Rodriguez. To access a recording of the event visit Briefing: How Congressional Assaults on Health and Food Programs are Endangering Youngest Americans.

To access the full report, visit “Children Under Attack: How Congressional Assaults on Health and Food Programs are Endangering the Youngest Americans.”

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