As Congress votes on President Trump’s budget bill, experts warn that cuts severely impact children in the U.S. in particular. Trump’s first 100 days in office were also detrimental to children.
BRUCE LESLEY; contact [email protected], @BruceLesley
Lesley is the president of First Focus on Children, which focuses on the holistic needs of children. First Focus on Children puts out an annual children’s budget, assessing what the federal budget means for kids.
Lesley told the Institute for Public Accuracy: “You cannot cut $800 billion [from the federal budget] and think that kids are going to be hunky dory. It’s just not true. Kids will absolutely be harmed. We know that Medicaid and SNAP are taking two of the biggest hits. If you cut $1.1 trillion to those two programs, kids are disproportionately the people who are covered under them. In pretty much every way, this is disproportionately harmful to children and particularly to low income children. This bill will cause more kids to live in poverty and we will be cutting services to them.
“In my time doing public policy on kids’ issues, there’s always been a mix. Since 1997, when the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was passed, we had a 20-year run where the uninsured rate for children dropped. That trend reversed in 2016. There was a blip in 2021 when we expanded services and froze unenrollment. But we were making amazing progress. The uninsured rate for kids was over 15 percent in 1997 and it had dropped below 5 percent by 2016. In the first Trump administration, enrollment barriers and frequent eligibility determinations caused the uninsured rate to go up a little bit. This is not the right direction. There is not a lot to point to right now showing that we’re making progress for kids.
“These cuts are compounding. If you’re denying the Child Tax Credit to low income kids because their parents’ income dropped, then you are disproportionately harming babies whose moms lose income while pregnant or postpartum. You’re harming babies by eliminating birthright citizenship. You’re cutting Medicaid and SNAP for those same babies, and Medicaid and SNAP often convey eligibility for school lunch or WIC or other programs. We’re hitting these kids again and again and again. We’re not only pushing kids into poverty but we’re punching down on them.
“This budget also imposes greater restrictions on immigrant families. As an organization, we strive to say that all children, regardless of status, should have health insurance in this country. Some states have expanded coverage to kids with various immigration statuses. This bill, shockingly, provides a financial incentive for states who have covered insurance with their own money to reduce the federal matching rate––providing a financial incentive for states to cut their health insurance. On top of that, in the Child Tax Credit (CTC), they have imposed a provision that says that U.S. citizen children living in mixed status households can’t get the CTC. These are U.S. citizen children who are going to be fundamental to our nation’s future, who are being shortchanged because of their parents’ immigration status. It is also likely a violation of the equal protection clause in the Constitution.
“Eliminating birthright citizenship is a whole other issue. Because we have birthright citizenship, when you’re born, the hospital certifies your birth, and that’s it, you’re a citizen. If you try to abolish birthright citizenship, then birth certificates don’t matter anymore. Every child in America, all 3.6 million babies, would have to apply for citizenship. What matters is parents’ citizenship. Not everyone can provide that documentation. If you’re a single mom, how can you demonstrate paternity? What about for adoption, gay couples, IVF, surrogacy? All those scenarios are in limbo. We’re talking about all babies, even those who would later be deemed citizens, waiting for a bureaucrat to certify them… In the meantime, those babies are ineligible for TANF, SNAP, Medicaid, the CTC. The administration doesn’t seem to acknowledge or care that the people harmed by this are babies––potentially for a lifetime.”