US Hits Record Low Federal Spending on Kids

Programs serving children only receiving one penny of every federal dollar spent

ALBUQUERQUE, NM - Over the past five years only one penny of every new, real non-defense dollar spent by the federal government has gone to children, a new publication revealed today. The report, "Children's Budget 2008," was released by First Focus, a bipartisan children's advocacy organization.

The report looks at the more than 180 federally funded programs that are aimed at enhancing the well-being of our nation's children, and how those programs' appropriations levels have changed over the past five years. After adjusting for inflation, "Children's Budget 2008" finds that just 1 percent of all new spending since fiscal year 2004 is helping America's kids. 

Over the past five years, spending on children's education has been stagnant, resulting in a real decrease in the value of education funding, the report concludes. Nearly 70 education programs have suffered real cuts in funding over the past five years, leading to a 10 percent inflation-adjusted funding decrease.

"The report's findings are deeply disturbing," said Bill Jordan, Policy Director for New Mexico Voices for Children. "Not only is investing in our children the right thing to do by them, it's the right thing to do by our country and economy. We're not giving our children the best chance at succeeding when we're pulling the plug on their education and health care. We should be investing more in education in the 21st century, not less."

"In the past few years we've heard a lot of lip service about family values. This study shows how empty that talk has been," he added. "If our federal budget is a moral document, this shows a great moral deficiency."

Based in Washington, D.C., First Focus is part of America's Promise Alliance, which was founded, in part, by Colin Powell.  The report is posted online at http://www.firstfocus.net/pages/3391/