Cnn
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The Trump administration plans to eliminate the financing of two key federal programs that help millions of low -income Americans educate their young children and heat their homes.
A project of President Donald Trump’s budget proposal for the next financial years calls to end the support of Head Start, which provides early childhood education and other services to nearly 800,000 children, and for the low -income energy aid program, known as LIHAP, which helps around 6 million households with their public service bills.
This decision is part of a plan project, which CNN has examined, to reduce approximately a third of the federal discretionary health budget, eliminate dozens of programs and considerably reduce health agencies.
“The budget is insensitive because they do not think of the people who will be injured,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Association Directors Association, who works with state officials who supervise Liheap. “For them, it’s a game of figures. They do not recognize the enormity of the impact on ordinary people.”
Trump does not have the power to finance the programs by himself. These decisions belong to the congress, which often does not follow the budgetary recommendations of a president.
However, Head Start and Liheap were shaken by other recent changes established by the Department of Health and Social Services, which administers them. The secretary of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., earlier this month, dismissed all Liheap staff, who paid federal funding to state agencies and provided support for them. He also closed at least five regional offices, which provided surveillance and advice to local start-up programs, as part of its loss of 10,000 agency employees to comply with the purge of Trump on federal workforce.
The layoffs have left states and local local start -up centers that rush to find staff members who can answer questions about obtaining federal funds that remain for this exercise. Recently, the groups have received opinions from defndthespend@hhs.gov, an effort led by the Elon Musk government ministry, which asks them to justify why they need money and how they plan to spend it.
Allie McCandless, spokesperson for the White House management and budget office, said: “No final financing decision has been made.”
CNN also contacted HHS to comment.
Head Start, which celebrates its 60th birthday next month, is working with hundreds of thousands of less income in the United States. It helps children from birth at the age of 5 to prepare for school and connect to nutrition, health and mental health care services, as well as parents a range of support services. More than 250,000 people are employed in nearly 18,000 Head Start centers nationally.
According to Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Head Start Association.
“The most worrying is that we are talking about hundreds of thousands of parents (who) could not work or would be forced to choose between their livelihoods and a safe and reliable place for their children,” he said, noting that the elimination of Head Start was proposed in the 2025 project, a massive political plaque book compiled by the Conservative Heritage Foundation.
The Head Start centers have already encountered obstacles under the Trump administration. In addition to treating HHS endowment cuts, some centers have been temporarily prevented from reducing their federal funds at the end of January after the administration interrupted the disbursement of federal grants and loans. This forced a few to close their doors for a short time and several others to consider making this stage until their access to money is restored.
Although this problem has been largely solved, some centers still do not receive their federal funds – forcing at least one to close this week and others to remove credit lines or contemplate the closure.
Inspire Development Centers in Rural Sunnyside, Washington, has been waiting for weeks for about 4.2 million dollars for the second half of this exercise for weeks. Thus, the non -profit organization made the decision difficult to close its Head Start and Head Start programs this week – affecting more than 400 children and 72 employees – because it would not have been able to pay during the last part of April. He hopes to reopen the programs if he secures funds.
Inspire can no longer contact the staff of the Seattle regional office because it was abandoned earlier this month. And the only person he has reached at the HHS headquarters in Washington, DC, told the center that the question was out of control.
“We have not received any assurance that the balance of funds will be awarded,” said Julie Jones, Director of Human Resources at Inspire, adding that the center serves “children most requiring children”, including those with disabilities, young people with host family and homeless families.
Several other Washington centers are also waiting for their funds and should have to close if the delays continue, said Joel Ryan, executive director of the Washington State Association of Head Start.
“These are relatively low investments that the federal government is doing in relation to everything they do,” said Ryan, noting that former students of the head tend to have better secondary graduation rates and complete more paid jobs. “From the point of view of the budget, it’s really a Penny Sage and a stupid book.”
Meanwhile, the States are waiting for the disbursement of $ 378 million in Liheap funds, the 10% final of this financial year. But HHS only gave vague answers when he was asked when he releases the funds, Wolfe said.
This money could help around 756,000 households, he said, noting that several states have already exhausted the heating assistance funds they have received. Some may not be able to provide summer cooling aid, which is becoming more and more important in the middle of the increase in heat waves, or may have to reduce their programs.
Already, Liheap only contributes to 16% of eligible people, said Wolfe. And the need is excellent – approximately 1 households out of 6 is late in their public service bills and the arrears total approximately $ 21 billion.
A bipartite group of senators, led by the Republican senses. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and the Democratic Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, sent a letter to Kennedy earlier this month the exhortant to reintegrate Liheap staff who were dismissed. They have expressed concerns about what the action could “undermine HHS’s ability to provide this critical funding to seniors and low -income families” and have noted that the States are waiting for the final distribution of the funds.
Similarly, the Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders, led a group of 30 colleagues by demanding that HHS reintegrate workers and pays money.
Until the release of funding, Steve Luxton, CEO of the energy coordination agency, must divert the residents of Philadelphia in search of LIHAAP crisis aid to repair the radiators and inoperable air conditioners. As a rule, the non -profit organization has enough resources to last throughout the winter and, recently, in the summer. But this year, the funds have dried in mid-February, allowing Luxton to help only 274 households, rather than the typical number between 500 and 600.
Luxton is concerned about residents, especially the elderly, who need air conditioning repairs during the summer. Philadelphia has the hottest average summer temperatures in the state, he noted.
“This year, there will not be a crisis cooling program in the city of Philadelphia at all,” he said.
