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Home : Federal Issues : OHIO CHILDREN’S ADVOCATES COMMENT ON STATE OF THE UNION

OHIO CHILDREN’S ADVOCATES COMMENT ON STATE OF THE UNION

Ohio’s Families Need Job Creation, Family Supports, Health Care Reform

In his State of the Union address, President Obama made commitments to many programs and initiatives that Ohio’s children need. “Most of all, we applaud the President’s commitment to job creation that will put Ohio’s parents back to work and allow them to take care of their families,” said Voices for Ohio’s Children Executive Director Amy Swanson.

“However, while we create jobs to put Ohio back to work, the needs of our state’s families are growing while our state and local budgets are shrinking,” continued Swanson. To provide the federal investments that Ohio’s families need in this difficult economy, Voices for Ohio’s Children strongly support the Obama Administration’s plans to:

• Expand family supports, like the child and dependent tax credit and earned income tax credit, that will help lift struggling families out of poverty.



• Extend temporary federal relief for states like Ohio that are faced with making unacceptable state budget cuts in health care, education, and services for children at risk of abuse and neglect.



• Finish the job on health care reform. In Ohio today, 111,000 children remain uninsured and more children are at risk of losing coverage as their families lose jobs and employer-sponsored coverage. With so many Ohioans unemployed and deep cuts to state budgets limiting children’s coverage, health reform cannot come soon enough for Ohio’s Children.



• Implement national educational reform that will guarantee every Ohio child has an opportunity to not only survive, but to thrive and be successful. We echo Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia’s words: “A child's educational opportunity should be determined by her intellect and work ethic, not by her zip code.”



• Prevent childhood obesity. Right now in Ohio, we have the opportunity to support the federal childhood obesity initiative by passing HB 373, a bipartisan state bill that addresses childhood obesity comprehensively by ensuring nutritious foods, physical activity and more frequent BMI screenings and education for parents.

“At the same time as we urge targeted, near-term spending, including continuing American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) funds for Ohio, we acknowledge that tackling the nation’s debt is a children’s issue,” continued Swanson. “Large long-term deficits squeeze critical federal spending and consequently budgets for children’s programs. We are pleased that President Obama, in focusing on deficit reduction, has followed the lead of Ohio’s Senator George Voinovich, a strong and consistent voice for fiscal discipline.”

“Ohio’s children are not a partisan issue,” concluded Swanson. “We stand ready to work with our federal and state leaders on both sides of the aisle to help Ohio’s children and families continue the journey back to prosperity.”