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Floor Speech

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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, this weekend marks a very important anniversary in our Nation's history. On May 18, we celebrate the 60th birthday of Head Start. I take this time to acknowledge the leaders and advocates from the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia's largest Head Start provider.

Through the years, my office has developed an outstanding partnership with the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta as we work hand in hand to serve our children. Next week, the supporters of Head Start from across Metropolitan Atlanta will gather to wish a happy birthday to this critically important Federal program.

Mr. Speaker, 60 years ago, President Lyndon Baines Johnson spoke from the Rose Garden to announce the opening of 2,000 child development centers across the country.

Project Head Start was developed as a community-driven initiative to ensure that children born into poverty would not remain there for the rest of their lives. In order to get a good head start on the future, children would receive preschool training to get them ready for school. They would receive medical and dental care. Their parents would receive counseling on how to provide the best environments for them at home.

Mr. Speaker, 60 years later, Head Start's legacy continues to make America proud. This Federal program has served nearly 40 million American children. From classrooms to the kitchen table, Head Start walks alongside our families and their young children to serve them through the four pillars of every Head Start program, from education, health services, family involvement, and wraparound services.

The benefits of Head Start are clear. Children who attend Head Start are more likely to complete high school and more likely to enroll and complete college. They are less likely to have run-ins with the law, less likely to enter foster care, and less likely to experience poor health.

I am proud to serve in Congress with notable Head Start alumni, such as my colleagues Representative Tony Gonzales, Teresa Leger Fernandez, Andre Carson, Jahana Hayes, and of course, Georgia's very own Senator Raphael Warnock.

Sadly, over the last 60 years, the transformational legacy of Project Head Start seems to have been forgotten and its future has faced recent threats by many of the Republican colleagues and the Trump administration. Just last month, a leaked Republican budget proposed a complete elimination of funding for Head Start. In Georgia alone, over 22,000 children would stand to lose out on the opportunity to participate in this life-changing and transformative program.

As a mother who fights for the safety and success of every child in America, I will not be silent in the face of these attacks. That is why I have been standing up and sounding the alarm, working to educate people back home about what these cuts would mean for our community, not only in Georgia but all across the Nation. Georgia is facing a childcare crisis. At a time when access to childcare is severely limited, cuts to Head Start would impact not just the lives of the children and their families but our entire communities.

Head Start is a core component of our local economy, and without access to this option, many parents would be forced out of their jobs. Head Start affords working families the peace of mind that their children will be safe, healthy, and well cared for during the day.

Just as President Johnson did, we are continuing to fight for investments and opportunities for our children so that they have the tools necessary to achieve their highest ambitions. Federal investment in the foundational development of our children must remain our national priority.

As we prepare to wish Head Start a happy 60th birthday, I call on all Georgians and all Americans across this country to take action and speak out in support of our children. What we do today matters a great deal for the future of our next generation.

It is my hope and my prayer that 60 years from now this body will be comprised of many more Head Start alumni, living proof that this program must continue.

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