U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said today they are joining Senate colleagues to condemn the Trump Administration’s mass firings of federal employees at the Office of Head Start (OHS) and the Office of Child Care (OCC) and to urge Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to reinstate these employees immediately.
The sweeping firings of staff from these critical offices will severely restrict access to child care for working-class families. The Head Start program serves nearly 800,000 children, providing comprehensive services to help children receive health care and insurance, while offering parents job training, education, housing support, and nutrition services.
“The Administration’s decision to reduce staff comes at a time when it is increasingly expensive to run child care and early learning programs, the cost of child care continues to be out of reach for many working-class families, and the demand for quality child care continues to far outpace the supply,” continued the senators. “We are deeply concerned about the exacerbation of these issues for child care providers and children and families as a result of the Administration’s termination of a large portion of OHS and OCC staff, including the sudden closure of five of the ten Regional Offices and RIFs.”
In addition to Wyden and Merkley, the letter was led by Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and also co-signed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
