“President Trump is Protecting America’s Children,” says a White House statement on efforts to halt transgender treatments for minors. Meanwhile, Trump’s drastic cuts to federal programs represent a “war on children,” says a 2,100-word report from ProPublica.
“The staff of a program that helps millions of poor families keep the electricity on, in part so that babies don’t die from extreme heat or cold, have all been fired. The federal office that oversees the enforcement of child support payments has been hollowed out. Head Start preschools, which teach toddlers their ABCs and feed them healthy meals, will likely be forced to shut down en masse. … And funding for investigating child sexual abuse and internet crimes against children, responding to reports of missing children and preventing youth violence has been withdrawn indefinitely,” says the report from ProPublica.
The Trump administration has laid off employees overseeing child care, education and child protective services while cutting funds for school meals and school safety. Cuts to children’s programs seem to have been lost amid the chaos of Trump’s first 100 days, and because children can’t vote, they lack a powerful voice.
“’Pro-family’ groups have applauded Trump for opposing ‘transgender ideology’ while remaining silent about budget cuts that could leave children hungry.”
So far, “pro-family” groups have applauded Trump for opposing “transgender ideology” while remaining silent about budget cuts that could leave children hungry. But the D.C.-based advocacy group First Focus on Children said the cuts would be “devastating for children and families across the nation:”
“President Trump’s budget proposal represents a continuation of a never-ending accumulation of disproportionate and targeted actions aimed at harming kids,” the group said. “This proposal seeks massive funding reductions, which could amount to over $20 billion in cuts to crucial programs that children and families depend on.”
Cuts already have been made to children’s programs that Congress has funded in a number of federal agencies:
- Trump wants to eliminate the Department of Education, which has halted payments on $3 billion of COVID recovery funding for public schools.
- The Department of Agriculture has canceled more than $600 million in grants that provided food for public school lunches by purchasing from local farmers. The cuts have left schools without fresh food and deprived farmers of promised payments for their meat and produce.
- Trump threatened to cut all funding to Head Start, which is under the Department of Health and Human Services, but suddenly reversed course this week after several Republican officials complained.
- HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has laid off regional Head Start employees and closed five of the program’s 10 regional offices without any notice to the employers or to local service providers. It’s not clear that any of these offices will be reopened.
ProPublica reported the Head Start cuts could hurt people who voted for Trump in the hopes he would improve their economic plight: “That would leave 1 million working-class parents who rely on Head Start not only for pre-K education but also for child care, particularly in rural areas, with nowhere to send their kids during the day.”
Kennedy already has cut $1.7 billion of HHS funding used for child welfare, foster care, adoption services, day care, counseling and disability services. The cuts will make it harder for families to receive the child support they’re owed because it could be harder to find the parents who don’t pay and enforce judgments against them.
Trump and GOP leaders in Congress say they’re also considering cuts to Medicaid. ProPublica said these cuts would mean that “kids from lower- and middle-class families across the U.S. will lose access to health care at their schools, in foster care, for their disabilities or for cancer treatment.”
But the Family Research Council says Trump has helped America get “back on track” and cited five specific actions for children:
- “Reaffirming the federal government’s recognition of only two genders, male and female”
- “Prohibiting biological men from competing in girls’ sports”
- “Ending radical indoctrination in K-12 public schools”
- “Expanding school choice opportunities”
- “Protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation.”
FRC has not addressed the Trump administration cuts to children’s programs.
The James Dobson Family Institute also applauded the president’s action on transgender issues: “The most basic gift parents can give their children is this: protection.”
But nothing about protecting children from hunger and lack of education.
ProPublica recently won a Pulitzer Prize for its article “Life of the Mother,” which reported on the fatal consequences of abortion bans.
Related articles:
A catalogue of Trump’s 100 days of terrible horrible, no good actions | Analysis by Rodney Kennedy
100 Days into the Trump presidency, we are living in the Upside Down | Analysis by Melissa Deckman
I’m still haunted by stories from the first Trump term | Opinion by Mara Richards Bim
Trump making good on Project 2025 goal to abolish Head Start
Hypocrisy | Opinion by Mark Wingfield