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This statement can be attributed to Cemeré James, interim executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Washington, D.C., March 14, 2025 – The full-year continuing resolution (CR) passed today by Congress undermines the security, stability, and well-being of millions of workers, immigrants, families, and children throughout the country. It provides no guardrails to stop the administration from using funds for whatever purposes President Trump and Elon Musk deem necessary to further their own political agenda. This CR does nothing to improve the lives of low-income families and children struggling across the country.

While the CR does avoid a government shutdown, it increases military spending by $6 billion, allocates an additional $485 million for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and decreases nondefense spending by $13 billion. It also largely keeps spending levels the same as FY2024, at a time when inflation and costs are rising. This means that even though specific programs may not be targeted by line-item cuts, the current funding levels won’t go as far. For example, since federal housing vouchers won’t cover as many people, 32,000 people could face eviction. Notably, this flat funding is in addition to the 1 percent cut that will be triggered by the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

Without safeguards specifying Congressional intent on how funds are spent, the administration could significantly cut or eliminate funding for programs that support housing assistance; public K-12 schools; Historically Black Colleges and Universities; maternal health; child care and early education; and postsecondary education. This undercuts Congress’s “power of the purse” and threatens its oversight authority over the Executive Branch.

This is one of the reasons that ultra-conservatives, who in the past have staunchly opposed stopgap funding measures like continuing resolutions, have been explicit about their support for this CR: it enables administration officials to continue dismantling and defunding government programs that they oppose.

The CR also includes a cruel provision that requires Washington, D.C. to cut more than $1 billion from its current budget. These are D.C. funds that come from locally paid taxes, not federal funds. Although the Senate voted on a standalone bill to restore funding back to D.C., until the House votes on the bill, D.C. could still face hiring freezes and furloughs throughout city agencies. This could result in unsafe streets, increased wait times for EMS calls, and a hiring freeze for teachers, among other devastating impacts to the city’s economy. We urge the House to pass the bill as soon as possible to restore D.C.’s budget.

CLASP remains committed to supporting families and communities and ensuring that they can meet their basic needs. This CR does not achieve that goal.

This statement can be attributed to Cemeré James, interim executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Washington, DC, March 12, 2025—Yesterday, the Trump Administration slashed half of the U.S. Department of Education’s workforce when it laid off approximately 1,300 career staff and 600 probationary employees. A nation’s strength is built on the strength of its public education system, and these actions purposely weaken not only American education but America itself. Mass layoffs also undermine the economy and, if left unchecked, will lead to higher unemployment.

For 46 years, the Department of Education (ED) has helped advance and protect equitable educational opportunities for all students seeking to learn in the United States. The Trump Administration’s “final mission” for the department is to intentionally dismantle it, disregarding both its importance to the nation and the profound unpopularity of shuttering the ED. Allowing Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency to operate the federal government like a private equity firm and unilaterally strip federal agencies of valuable people and resources will be ruinous to students, families, communities, and the economy.

Yesterday’s action is particularly concerning because of the impact on marginalized and vulnerable student populations. Public school systems that rely on federal spending will face increased difficulty in continuing to educate students. With a greatly reduced staff, the ED’s Office of Civil Rights cannot fulfill its obligation to vigilantly enforce federal civil rights laws in schools and among other recipients of ED funding. Researchers will struggle to analyze educational outcomes produced by various federal programs after the elimination of the National Center for Education Studies. Postsecondary students will be unable to begin or continue their educational pathways with the loss of staff capacity to manage financial aid awards. The harm of these cuts to students with disabilities, including the effects on early intervention programs for young children, remains unacknowledged by a Secretary of Education who struggles to remember what IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) stands for.

The administration has no intention of resolving these concerns or communicating how it will replace the ED’s essential services and programs. Since Inauguration Day the administration has wielded authority without regard to the democratic process, ignoring the laws or livelihoods they break.

CLASP stands ready to work with and on behalf of students, families, and communities to advance and protect the educational rights of all students. We call on federal and state policymakers to oppose these reckless actions and take steps to slow down and mitigate the harm while also supporting children, families, and educators at risk. In addition, we call on our partners in the education and children’s advocacy space to join the effort to push back against these harmful attacks, which are an affront to our collective goals to build a more just and equitable country.

 

This statement can be attributed to Wendy Cervantes, director of immigration and immigrant families at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Washington, DC, March 11, 2025–The Trump Administration’s announcement to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to restrict access to health coverage for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients is disappointing but not surprising. In its search for new ways to threaten the well-being of immigrant communities, this administration has gone out of its way to restrict and worsen our health care system for everyone. 

Since the inception of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), over 800,000 DACA recipients have been barred from health coverage. Thanks to a Biden Administration rule, on November 1, 2024, individuals with DACA were finally able to purchase health coverage through the ACA Marketplace.

A 2023 survey found that DACA recipients were up to three times more likely to be uninsured. That lack of health coverage impacts them and the children in DACA households. Over 300,000 children in the United States have a parent with DACA status. 

DACA recipients, on average, have lived here for over 20 years and collectively pay billions in taxes each year to support programs and services for which they largely remain ineligible. The annual cost of providing coverage to DACA recipients is a small fraction of the trillions of dollars members of Congress are attempting to add to our national debt to give tax cuts to the richest Americans through the budget reconciliation process. This isn’t about costs or lack of resources, it’s about cruelty. 

Until a rule is finalized, DACA recipients’ current enrollment in health coverage remains the same. The proposed rule makes clear that this administration will continue to waste time on policies that hurt our families, communities, and collective well-being rather than working to actually make the United States healthier. 

 

By Stephanie Schmit & Rachel Wilensky

Federal budget proposals currently under consideration threaten resources available for children and families through multiple key programs, including the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) programs. These programs are vital supports for families with low incomes throughout the country and provide access to essential services, including child care and early education. The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is the primary source of federal funding for child care and early education, but in some states TANF and SSBG provide significant support for child care assistance. The proposed threats to these programs will further restrict access to child care and early education for tens of thousands of children and families.

Child care access for close to 40,000 children across the country is at risk in addition to vital supports and services for families if we do not protect SSBG and TANF funding. This fact sheet provides background information about SSBG and TANF programs and highlights the number of children whose child care would be impacted by threatened cuts.

>> Read the full fact sheet here

Webinar: Protecting Early Childhood Programs from Immigration Enforcement 

The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) held a webinar on Tuesday, February 25 to share how child care and early education providers can protect their programs from immigration enforcement. Speakers covered the impact of immigration policies on access to early childhood programs, including the removal of the protected areas/sensitive locations policy, and strategies for ensuring immigrant families feel safe in early care and early education facilities and programs. The webinar was recorded in both English and Spanish.


Protegiendo los programas de Primera Infancia de las acciones para el cumplimiento de las Leyes de Inmigración

El Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP por sus siglas en inglés) – Centro de Leyes y Política Social y el National Immigration Law Center (NILC por sus siglas en inglés) – Centro Nacional de Leyes de Inmigración, formaron parte de un seminario en línea el día martes 25 de febrero para compartir como los proveedores de cuidado infantil y aprendizaje temprano pueden proteger sus programas de las acciones de agentes de inmigración. Las oradoras hablaron sobre el impacto de las políticas de inmigración al acceder a programas de aprendizaje temprano, incluyendo la política eliminación de áreas protegidas o lugares sensibles y estrategias para asegurar de que las familias inmigrantes se sientan seguras en sus instalaciones y programas. El seminario en línea se llevó a cabo en inglés y en español.

By Rachel Cohen

The immigration crackdown threatening to break America’s child care system

What happens if the people caring for American children get deported?

Read the full article at vox.com

By Ashley Burnside and Jesse Fairbanks,

In 2025, several provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 are scheduled to expire. This provides an opportunity for lawmakers to reform our tax code so that it serves families with low incomes instead of the wealthiest individuals and corporations. The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has recommendations that would improve the well-being of families and children with low incomes through the tax code, and have positive benefits for our economy.[⎆1]

Who Benefitted from the TCJA

The TCJA largely benefitted wealthy households and corporations through measures such as reducing the corporate tax rate. These measures not only drove up the deficit but also made our tax code less fair. While the TCJA doubled the size of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) that families can claim per child, it also made the full credit available to families making from $110,000 all the way up to $400,000 in annual income, dramatically expanding eligibility for the full credit to high income families. But families with the lowest earnings cannot claim the full credit because it is not fully refundable. The TCJA also restricted eligibility for children who don’t have Social Security numbers. The 2025 tax package presents an important opportunity to reverse these policy choices to ensure the very wealthy and corporations pay their fair share.

Extending the TCJA Would be Expensive and Leave Less Revenue for Families

The tax code creates revenue for critical infrastructure in our nation. If lawmakers extended the TCJA provisions for ten years, the Department of Treasury estimated this would cost $4.2 trillion. [⎆2] If lawmakers reversed the tax cuts for those with incomes above $400,000 and allowed the business and estate tax cuts to expire on schedule, the total cost would be reduced to $1.8 trillion. The extra $2.4 trillion could be used for worthy investments that would help working families, like implementing a national paid family leave policy, expanding child care for families, and investing in home and community-based services for people with disabilities. Lawmakers should not extend tax breaks for the very wealthy and instead should make investments in the care economy.

Recommendations

CLASP believes that lawmakers should prioritize the following three goals in the 2025 tax package:

  1. Expand tax credits targeted at individuals and families with low incomes, including the CTC, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and a new temporary Renters Tax Credit.
  2. Make the tax code fairer by asking the very wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share.
  3. Use the tax code to generate more revenue than would be generated if the TCJA simply expired. This revenue should be invested in housing, communities, and infrastructure.

Expanding Tax Credits to Boost Income for Families, Renters, and Workers

Expand the CTC and Allow Access for Mixed-Immigration Status Families

The CTC is an important tool for reducing poverty and investing in children. Congress should expand the CTC and make it accessible to families with little to no earnings by permanently making the credit fully refundable. Under current law, an estimated 18 million kids[⎆3] don’t get the full credit because their families earn too little – and this disproportionately includes Black, Latino, and Indigenous children due to the wage gap, discrimination in the labor market, and other systemic factors.[⎆4]

Congress should also restore CTC eligibility for children with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs). The TCJA removed access to the credit for an estimated 1 million children with ITINs.[⎆7] Children should receive the CTC regardless of whether they have a Social Security number, as their families contribute billions of dollars in taxes and should be entitled to the same benefits as other tax-paying families.[⎆8]

Expand the EITC for Workers Without Dependent Kids, Young Workers, and Old Workers

The EITC effectively bolsters the wages of workers with low and moderate incomes, but because of how the credit is structured, some workers who don’t live with children are taxed deeper into poverty.[⎆9] Congress should increase the credit for workers without dependent children in the household. Under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the EITC tripled for this population temporarily (the maximum credit increased from about $500 to $1,500) the income cap to qualify for the full credit increased, and the credit phase-in and phase-out rates increased. Congress should include a similar expansion in the 2025 tax bill. Congress should also extend access to the credit for younger workers (ages 19-24, and age 18 for former foster care youth and homeless youth) and for older workers (ages 65 and over) as they did in 2021. This is especially important because young adults are largely excluded from our nation’s anti-poverty programs, and the age demographic faces high poverty rates compared to other age groups.[⎆10] Based on the Supplemental Poverty Measure, young adults ages 18- 24 in 2022 had a poverty rate of 17.7 percent, and 22.5 percent for young people of color.[⎆11]

Create a Temporary Renter’s Tax Credit to Help People with Low Incomes Afford Housing

low wages have combined with high housing costs to make renting the biggest expense many people face. About 75 percent of renters with very low incomes, or 8 million households, spend over 50 percent of their incomes on housing and utilities.[⎆12] Cost-burdened renters earning less than $30,000 are left with an average of $170 a month for all other expenses.[⎆13] High housing costs put a dire strain on renters’ budgets, forcing millions of parents to decide between feeding their children, keeping the electricity on, or paying rent.

Despite millions of people struggling to afford housing, there is no reliable program providing rent relief to all who need it. Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) fail to reach most eligible renters because of severe underfunding—the program assists just a quarter of eligible people.[⎆14] Additionally, HCVs are challenging to use because they depend on the private rental market to provide housing.

Landlords can choose not to participate in the program in most places, resulting in 40 percent of people who are lucky enough to get a voucher losing it before they find a place to rent.[⎆15]

Every day that we wait for the government to invest in affordable housing results in another eviction, another tent on the street, or another parent foregoing dinner so their child can eat. Congress must establish a temporary, refundable renter’s tax credit for people with very low incomes. The credit could further target a population at great risk of eviction, such as single parents. Establishing a targeted renter’s tax credit will provide relief to people in desperate need of financial assistance until the government produces adequate affordable housing.

Make the Tax Code Fairer by Asking the Wealthy and Corporations to Pay Their Fair Share

Increasing access to credits that can help families meet their basic needs and using revenue to invest in our future will help grow the U.S. economy and ensure that more people are able to thrive instead of just a wealthy few.

Please reach out to ✉Ashley Burnside or ✉Jesse Fairbanks with any questions about this fact sheet.

Sources: Download publication to view full sources and citations.

By Wendy Cervantes

CLASP submitted this testimony on HB 1222 – Public Safety – Immigration Enforcement (Maryland Values Act) on February 25, 2025 to the Maryland General Assembly. In the testimony, CLASP urged the Maryland House Judiciary Committee to provide a favorable report with amendments on the Maryland Values Act. The testimony highlights the harm of 287(g) agreements on communities and immigrant families, including the policies impact on public safety, health, and early care and education. If enacted, the Maryland Values Act would end current 287(g) agreements in Frederick, Harford, and Cecil counties and stop Maryland from entering into new 287(g) agreements.

>>Download Testimony

By Priya Pandey

CLASP submitted testimony to the Maryland State Legislature this week in support of the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act (SB 828/HB 1006). With the rescission of the former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Protected Areas Guidance, immigrant families are living with uncertainty and fear that has made them hesitant to seek out medical attention and critical services, drop off their children at school, and carry out everyday activities. Legislation like this bill at the state level can help address the gaps left by the rescission and support educators, healthcare workers, and other service providers in navigating the uncertainty and supporting the children and families they serve. Additionally, heightened immigration enforcement efforts undermine access to critical programs, putting families’ health and well-being at risk, including for U.S. citizen children in mixed-status families. Protecting sensitive locations from immigration enforcement is essential to ensuring all our community members can access basic services and support without fear.

>> Download Testimony

By Alyssa Fortner and Shira Small  

This year’s Black History Month theme, “African Americans and Labor,” provides an important opportunity to uplift and reflect on the ways Black women have shaped America’s child care system. This reflection is particularly critical one month into a new administration that has demonstrated disregard for the contributions of diverse workforces today and throughout history. To change the future of child care, it is important to understand the past, both to acknowledge how injustice shapes the sector and ensure a fairer and more equitable future for those who sustain and utilize the child care system. 

In the time of chattel slavery, enslaved Black women were forced to take care of white children, while not being allowed to take care of their own. In the post-emancipation period, low-paid domestic work was one of the only industries available to Black women. And throughout the 1900s policy choices and both proposed and enacted laws further marginalized and harmed those in the child care workforce and the families that relied on them. CLASP’s more detailed timeline of this history and impact can be found here. 

Though the U.S. child care system has changed over the course of history, the labor of Black women continues to be underpaid and undervalued. While 18 percent of child care workers are Black, Black people only compose 13 percent of the overall U.S. workforce. Despite their overrepresentation in the child care workforce, Black women earn less on average than their white counterparts in a field that is already woefully underpaid, with the average worker earning $30,370 in 2023. For center-based providers, the wage gap between white and Black workers amounts to an average of more than $8,000 per year. Workers in home-based child care programs, which Black providers operate in higher numbers, earn even less.  

On top of low wages, the workforce’s limited access to health insurance, retirement savings, and other benefits demonstrate the continued devaluation of Black women’s labor, harming the entire sector. Creating an economically sustainable profession that supports the well-being of all providers is not only a necessary step in creating a stronger child care system, but in working to repair the history of exploiting Black women’s work.  

Anti-Black racism, discrimination, and a refusal to chart a new path for child care to disconnect it from its unjust roots keeps child care workers underpaid and keeps care unaffordable. At CLASP, we are committed to helping transform the child care system by outlining its history, changing narratives around the system and workforce, and putting forth policy solutions that support those who have been undervalued or overlooked.  

As too many communities in this country face increasing threats to their economic and personal well-being, CLASP remains steadfast in its mission to advance racial and economic equity—especially in moments when progress and justice feel fragile. We are committed to working at the intersection of advancing equity and improving policy, which are inextricably linked. To that end, below are CLASP resources that center racial equity to expand access to child care and support for the child care workforce. These resources seek to understand the impacts of anti-Blackness and racism in the child care sector, because recognizing injustice is the first step in eradicating it. 

Understanding and Improving Equity in ECE Settings 

Centering Black Families: Equitable Discipline through Improved Data Policies in Child Care 

This report documents the history of inequitable disciplinary practices that disproportionately impact Black children in child care and early education and how data can be used to create meaningful solutions that address the harms.   

Standing With Black Communities by Standing Against White Supremacy in Child Care and Early Education Spaces  

This blog discusses ways in which the legacy of white supremacy in the child care sector can be dismantled. 

Child Care Assistance Landscape: Inequities in Federal and State Eligibility and Access 

This report analyzes variations in eligibility and access to Child Care and Development Block Grant subsidies in 2020, disaggregated by race and ethnicity. 

Advancing Equity for the Child Care Workforce  

The Racist History Behind Why Black Childcare Workers Are Underpaid 

This 2022 op-ed examines the history of black labor in the child care sector and how it underpins the workforce’s severe underpayment.   

Expanding Access to Child Care Assistance: Opportunities in the Child Care and Development Fund  

This report and its fact sheets explain how the child care workforce can be better supported and diversified to provide more culturally responsive child care options for families and provides strategies for states to expand access to care.  

Community Engagement as an Anti-Racist Strategy 

Shaping Equitable Early Childhood Policy: Incorporating Inclusive Community Engagement Frameworks into Expanded Data Strategies  

This report examines how community engagement strategies can help create more equitable policies on the road to dismantling systemic racism. 

Parent and Provider Experience Should Inform Child Care Policy 

CLASP partnered with parent leaders from the United Parent Leaders Action Network in this blog to highlight the importance of community engagement as a tool to advance equity, just as it is a tool for creating effective policy.