By Chris Fuchs
U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and other Queens elected officials held an impromptu news conference at a daycare center in East Elmhurst last week, criticizing President George Bush’s proposed budget in which federal funding for various education and health programs in the city would be cut by more than $1.2 billion.
“Everybody here is disappointed in what the president is proposing,” said Clinton, standing in front of a handful of toddlers at A Child’s Place.
The officials said they arranged the news conference Friday in response to Bush’s proposed budget, which was passed this week by the House Budget Committee. If approved by Congress, it would reduce funding allocated for such programs as Child Care, Head Start, Health Care and Education Development, said U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights).
For New York City, funds could be cut by more than $1.2 billion, the bulk of which would come from spending on education programs, particularly those for children of low-income families, Crowley said.
The elected officials, including City Councilwoman Helen Marshall (D-East Elmhurst) and state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Flushing), used A Child’s Place as a backdrop for the news conference to emphasize whom the cuts would affect. In 1983, the school was founded to provide childcare for working families in East Elmhurst. There are 500 children from 6 months to 8 years currently enrolled with 19 classrooms in a newly built facility.
For the city the budget, if approved, would reduce funds for the Child Care Development Block Grant by $285 million, Head Start by $800 million, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid by $606 million, Crowley said. In addition, funding for emergency repairs of schools could be cut by some $1.25 billion, and Title I money — funds for low-income schoolchildren — by $150 million.
“I urge President Bush to reconsider his major tax breaks for the wealthy and start considering the health, and early development and education needs of the children here in East Elmhurst,” Crowley said.
Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
