The Children’s Leadership Council is a coalition of child advocates representing more than 50 leading national policy and advocacy organizations that are working every day to improve the health, education and well-being of children and youth in order to prepare them for school, work, and life.

This month, the group held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to warn Congress about cuts, with the biggest problems being seen in these states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

“Is spending on children really driving the federal deficit?” asks the group. “Did they cause the financial crisis or bring about the current recession? If not, why does the U.S. House Continuing Resolution (CR) punish hundreds of thousands of America’s most vulnerable babies, children, youth and families with billions of dollars in cuts to programs and services that go far beyond anything contemplated by any previous Congress?”

The group’s research details what it says are “devastating national and state-by-state harms of the proposed cuts to child- and family-focused programs and services, with a special focus on programs including Early Head Start/Head Start, child care, maternal and child health, school-based health clinics, Community Services Block Grant, low-income home heating assistance, Pell Grants, and Youth Employment, Education and Training.”

What do you think? Do budget cuts hurt the young? Click here for a streaming audio replay of the news conference.

The Children’s Leadership Council is a coalition of child advocates representing more than 50 leading national policy and advocacy organizations that are working everyday to improve the health, education and well-being of children and youth in order to prepare them for school, work and life. The CLC organizations have members in every state in the nation. A complete list of CLC members is available online.