Senator Baldwin Joins Colleagues in Calling on Administration to Expand Access to Affordable Child Care

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin joined her colleagues, led by Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) in calling on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to expand eligibility for the Head Start Program to help ensure that more families in Wisconsin and across the country can access affordable, high-quality child care and preschool services. Along with Senators Baldwin and Hassan, the letter was signed by Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Smith (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-CA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

“We write to ask the Department of Health and Human Services to expand access to affordable, high-quality early childhood education by using your existing authority to ensure that more young children and families are eligible for Head Start programs,” the Senators wrote to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.  

The Senators continued, “For more than 55 years, Head Start programs across the country have provided vital early childhood education to children from low-income households. Additionally, Head Start programs provide wraparound support to parents and entire families, including health, wellness, and nutrition services. However, many families who could benefit from Head Start’s vital services earn slightly above the federal poverty level (FPL) and may be ineligible.”

The Senators are urging Secretary Becerra to expand eligibility for the program to include families that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

“It is clear that the eligibility criteria have become increasingly detached from the needs of children and families across the nation. Adding SNAP and WIC to the categorical eligibility list is a simple and swift action we can take to mitigate the increasing barriers that children and families face," said National Head Start Association Executive Director Yasmina Vinci.

“More children and families need access to the quality comprehensive services and early care and education that define Head Start and Early Head Start,” said Jennie Mauer, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association. “Expanding Head Start eligibility to include SNAP and WIC participation is a common sense way to connect more families to Head Start.  The Wisconsin Head Start Association and our forty member Head Start grantees urge Secretary Becerra to make this change that will support the lives of so many children and families in Wisconsin and across the country.”

The American Rescue Plan, which Senator Baldwin helped pass into law, included more than $579 million for child care providers nationwide. Senator Baldwin also introduced the Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2021, which would establish a national goal of reducing child poverty by half in 10 years and require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Census Bureau to annually track the progress toward that goal.

To read the Senators’ letter to Secretary Becerra, click here or see below:

Dear Secretary Becerra,

We write to ask the Department of Health and Human Services to expand access to affordable, high-quality early childhood education by using your existing authority to ensure that more young children and families are eligible for Head Start programs.

For more than 55 years, Head Start programs across the country have provided vital early childhood education to children from low-income households. Additionally, Head Start programs provide wraparound support to parents and entire families, including health, wellness, and nutrition services. However, many families who could benefit from Head Start’s vital services earn slightly above the federal poverty level (FPL) and may be ineligible.

Currently, families are eligible for Head Start programs when they meet up to 100 percent of the Department FPL, and 35 percent of slots can be designated for children and families earning up to 130 percent of the FPL. The FPL is equivalent to $27,750 for a family of four. Additionally, Section 645 [42 U.S.C. 9840] of the Head Start Act makes children eligible when their families receive certain public assistance, as defined by the Department. Under current Head Start requirements, this so-called “categorical eligibility” applies to families that receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), but does not include other public assistance programs used by some of our country’s most high-need families.

We ask the Department to expand Head Start’s public assistance categorical eligibility to include children in families that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) programs. Adding SNAP and WIC will also underscore the critical links between nutrition support and early childhood education, and help connect pregnant WIC recipients to Early Head Start services at a critical and vulnerable juncture in their lives. 

We hope that the Department will make this change so that more high-need families and their young children can more easily access critical Head Start programs across the country. Thank you for your consideration.

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