Congresswoman April McClain Delaney Condemns Efforts to Cut Education in Rural America and Undermine National Security
Congresswoman April McClain Delaney Condemns Efforts to Cut Education in Rural America and Undermine National Security
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman April McClain Delaney (D-MD) released a statement condemning the White House and House Majority’s efforts to claw back nearly $10 billion of Congressionally-approved funding that supports public broadcasting and foreign aid in a rescissions package that is slated to be voted on in the U.S. House this week.
“The White House and House Majority are working this week to claw back $9.4 billion in funding that Congress already appropriated, including funds supporting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and humanitarian foreign aid. Without question, this funding will have an extremely detrimental impact on our national security, global health and our children’s cognitive and social-emotional development.
Let’s be clear: foreign aid is not a handout—it’s a strategic investment that helps secure alliances, prevent conflict and promote American values abroad. Cutting it risks the alliances that help keep Americans and our service members safe and will only worsen worldwide deaths from famine, disease and unrest. Even Bill Gates recently visited the White House, imploring the Administration to reconsider how these funding cuts will impact global health and international peacekeeping efforts.
More personally, I worked for years as a non-profit advocate related to children’s online safety, digital literacy and bridging our nation’s digital divide. For so many rural communities—like my hometown of Buhl, Idaho, and the ones I now represent in Western Maryland—the CPB provides families a lifeline to trusted news and educational programming. This broadcast programming is free to every American—and priceless in its impact. Our most vulnerable families with pre-K children often don’t have broadband access or cannot afford it, and so PBS programs like Sesame Street, Arthur and Mr. Rogers provide invaluable teaching tools for our neediest kids.
Making draconian budget decisions on the backs of working families, while gutting programs that strengthen our communities and national security, is harmful to our nation, our families and our future. We can and must do better.”
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