• Home
• Contact
• Constituent Services
  • Visiting DC
  • Capitol Tour
  • Flag Requests
  • Academy Nominations
  • Casework
  • Grants
  • Internships
  • Veterans Resources
• 7th District
  • About Seattle
• Biography
  • About Jim
• Issues
  • Africa
  • Jobs and the Economy
  • Endangered Salmon
  • Energy
  • First Amendment
  • Foster Care
  • Health Care
    • Jim's Health Care Blog
    • Town Hall
  • HIV/AIDS
  • India
  • Iraq
  • Kidney Caucus
  • India Caucus
  • Social Security
  • Trade
• News
  • Newsroom
  • Ways and Means Press Releases
  • Informed Sources
• Legislative
  • Jim's Legislation
  • Jim's Cosponsored Legislation
  • This Week's Votes
  • Jim's Subcommittee
  • Ways and Means Committee
• Photo Gallery
• Newsletter
• Jim's Health Care Blog

Home > News

Chairman McDermott leads Bi-partisan Effort to Strengthen Disadvantaged Families

June 2, 2009

To support a commitment made by President Obama, Chairman Jim McDermott, joined by Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) and Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA), today introduced the Early Support for Families Act.

The bipartisan legislation would provide federal matching funds to States, Native American Tribes and U.S. Territories, to support visitation programs in low-income homes where children are present to reinforce positive outcomes for these children through the use of proven models in child development and parenting techniques.  The legislation would provide $2 billion over five years in mandatory funding for grants to states.

“We are weaving fabric into the nation’s frayed social safety net with this legislation,” Rep. Jim McDermott said.  “We know empirically how to improve the lives and outcomes of at-risk children in low-income homes and this legislation provides the financial resources to do it.”

“Investing in children during the earliest years of their lives builds their emotional and physical development and improves the economic productivity of our society,” said Congressman Platts.  “Home visitation programs help to break the cycle of poverty and abuse by teaching parents about healthy childhood development and positive parenting skills.”

The Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee, which Rep. McDermott chairs, has scheduled a hearing next Tuesday, June 9, 2009, to review proposals to provide funding for grants to States to provide early childhood home visitation programs.  The hearing will begin at 10:00 a.m. in B-318 Rayburn House Office Building.

Rep. Danny Davis said: “Promoting healthy families is a goal we all can embrace.  This hearing is a wonderful opportunity to explore the successes of voluntary home visiting in improving the safety, health, and development of young children as well as ways to provide the stable funding necessary to ensure the consistent services needed to achieve these positive outcomes.”