Kennedy assures Congress funding for Head Start will not be cut

WASHINGTON – Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. connected Wednesday told Congress the Trump medication would not chopped backing for Head Start, aft layoffs astatine the bureau and backing freezes raised fears the six-decade-old programme would beryllium radically downsized.

In an quality before a Senate subcommittee, Kennedy said the medication would “emphasize steadfast eating successful Head Start, and guarantee the programme continues to service its 750,000 children and parents effectively.”

The aboriginal acquisition program, which serves children from low-income and stateless families astir the country, grapples with staffing shortages and galore centers run successful a perpetual authorities of fiscal precarity.

While the programme has been spared from elimination, Kennedy has laid disconnected a important fig of employees who helped the programme run and shuttered fractional its determination offices. Providers person experienced repeated backing delays since President Donald Trump took office, forcing immoderate to concisely close.

In a tense exchange, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, pressed Kennedy connected wherefore the national authorities delayed sending backing to a Head Start cognition extracurricular Milwaukee, forcing it to close.

“What would you accidental to a genitor who shows up for ... Head Start and the doors are closed?” she asked him.

“I would beryllium precise sad,” Kennedy said. “I fought precise hard to marque definite Head Start gets each of its backing adjacent year.”

Asked what was causing the delays, Kennedy said helium did not know, but suggested the occupation came from employees “who wanted to marque the Trump medication look bad.”

Backers of Head Start had been fretting aft a leaked Trump medication connection suggested defunding it, but earlier this period a elder White House authoritative told reporters determination would beryllium no changes to the program.

___

The Associated Press’ acquisition sum receives fiscal enactment from aggregate backstage foundations. AP is solely liable for each content. Find AP’s standards for moving with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded sum areas astatine AP.org.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.