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MEDIA CONTACT
Siobhan Mueller
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(202) 857 2609
Spending Blueprint Highlights Key Investments in Vital Programs
Washington, D.C., March 10, 2023– ZERO TO THREE, the country’s leading early childhood development nonprofit dedicated to ensuring all infants and toddlers have a strong start in life, applauded President Biden’s fiscal year 2024 federal budget for proposing essential and much-needed funding to support programs that build a strong foundation for young children and families.
“President Biden’s latest budget shows he continues to have families’ backs with comprehensive, long-term solutions to the biggest challenges they face. We know families are exhausted from trying to make ends meet, coping with providing the basics of housing and food, finding quality child care–and sometimes making difficult decisions about what to sacrifice,” said Miriam Calderón, Chief Policy Officer at ZERO TO THREE. “We urge Members of Congress to think about the needs of infants and toddlers, their families, and early childhood professionals in their own states and districts and use the President’s budget as a blueprint for decisions about budget priorities in the coming weeks.”
The President’s budget includes key investments to strengthen families, including expanding access to high-quality child care, restoring the enhanced Child Tax Credit, providing robust paid family and medical leave and paid sick days, and advancing maternal health and health equity. These priorities align with those family advocates outlined in ZERO TO THREE’s policy agenda, Fight for Our Families.
Highlights for babies and those who care for them in President Biden’s proposed budget includes:
- A new $400 billion, 10-year investment to expand access to high-quality child care for nearly all families with young children, while supporting needed investments in early educators, as well as $200 billion over 10 years to expand access to free preschool. Additionally, the budget continues to build on bipartisan gains in programs that work for children, including $9 billion, a nearly $1 billion increase, for the Child Care and Development Block Grant.
- $13.1 billion, representing a $1.1 billion increase, for Head Start and Early Head Start programs to provide comprehensive early childhood development services and supports to families with low income.
- $325 billion over 10 years for a comprehensive, permanent paid family and medical leave program providing up to 12 weeks of leave with a progressive wage replacement so lower wage workers receive a higher percentage.
- Restoration of the enhanced, fully-refundable, and monthly Child Tax Credit, which cut child poverty in half in 2021. Under the President’s proposals, families with children under 6 would be eligible to once again receive $300 per month per child in monthly advances of the Child Tax Credit.
- $571 million for the blueprint to address the maternal health crisis, as well as requiring 12 months of post-partum Medicaid coverage.
ZERO TO THREE supports funding for these critical programs, which millions of babies, children, and their families across the country depend on, and looks forward to working with its partners and allies to help ensure babies have the best possible start.
