32 Senators Sign Letter Supporting Head Start and Child Care

Last week RESULTS volunteers and our allies dove into action, calling senators last week asking them to sign on to the bipartisan Casey-Snowe Senate letter in support of Head Start and child care assistance. The Casey-Snowe letter urged Senate appropriators to support robust funding for Head Start, Early Head Start and the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) in FY 2013. As a result of your hard work, we were able to get 32 signatures onto the letter. Congratulations! That will send a strong message to appropriators about the importance of early childhood funding.

The letter was sent to Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-AL) on March 29. The final list of signers by state is:

Bob Casey (D-PA) (lead sponsor), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) (lead sponsor), Al Franken (D-MN) (lead sponsor), Mark Begich (D-AK), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Ben Cardin (D-MD), John Kerry (D-MA), Carl Levin (D-MI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Tom Udall (D-NM), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jack Reed (D-RI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Herb Kohl (D-WI).

TAKE ACTION: If your senator(s) signed the Casey-Snowe letter, take two minutes to call their offices to thank them for doing so. Tell them you appreciate their support for Head Start and child care and that you urge them to continue to weigh in with appropriators about increasing Head Start and Early Head Start funding by $325 million and CCDBG by $825 million in the FY 2013 budget. You can find contact information and staff names on our Elected Officials page or call the Capitol switchboard at: (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected with your Senate offices. And/or, use our online alert to send an e-mail to your members of Congress urging them to support Head Start and child care this year.