Good afternoon,

The words "government shutdown" have been thrown around so much in the past year that we're beyond sick and tired of hearing about it.

Friday is the deadline for the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Defense, Financial Services-General Government, Labor-HHS, Legislative Branch, and State-Foreign Operations spending bills.

Last night, White House officials and Big Four congressional leaders' aides reached a deal on the controversial DHS funding – which is just a continuing resolution (CR) through September 30, when FY2025 appropriations are due. Despite this agreement, passage of this second minibus is still uncertain, keeping a shutdown on the table.

A common American public school policy penalizes students for overdue work by reducing a grade by 10 percent for every day that the assignment is late. Perhaps if members of Congress got a 10 percent pay cut for every day the government is shut down, they would feel more incentive to keep the government running. Mind you, children are required by law to attend schools. Funding the government is lawmakers' chosen job, that they didn't merely apply to but campaigned to get elected... only to reveal an incredible inability to do group projects.

In case anyone forgot, the Affordable Connectivity Program – upon which over 23 million Americans rely – is due to run out of funding at the end of April. The sunset of the ACP would exacerbate the urban-rural digital divide, further widen existing inequalities in access to employment opportunities, education, and health care. If Congress can pivot from politicking to policymaking and fund the ACP, rural communities' well-being and economic viability would improve – guaranteed.

Here's what else you need to know this week...

THE CONTINUING CONUNDRUM OF CHILD CARE COSTS

• While Congress plays "Are You More Cooperative Than a 5th Grader?", parents across the country are struggling to figure out how to care for their pre-school-aged children.

• Early childhood education and care services help children develop social, emotional, and cognitive skills before entering school, and help parents – especially mothers – stay in the workforce and provide for their families.

• A survey of Kansas voters found that 80 percent said that child care – along with housing, health care, and healthy food – is increasingly difficult to afford.

• Only 46 percent of children in the state receive child care services. 85,000 more children are unserved. With such a glaring undersupply of child care, it's no surprise that Kansans want more state investment in programs: 78 percent of Kansans favored expansion of a child care tax credit – and 73 percent are against policies that loosen regulations guaranteeing providers' qualifications in order to address the shortage, which passed in Utah, concerning parents and providers.

• Federal child care investments dropped sharply after September 30, 2023, when pandemic-era funding ended. While many companies are responding to increased demands by offering child care benefits, smaller firms in rural areas can't afford to do the same for working parents.

• Without policies that seek to eliminate rural child care deserts, many rural families – children and families alike – will get left behind.

A FREE LUNCH

• A growing body of research shows that universal free meals benefit children's well-being – from reducing childhood obesity to improving academic performance.

• The 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act strengthened nutrition standards for school meals and included the Community Eligibility Provision, which the USDA recently expanded to allow more schools in areas with high rates of safety net participation to provide free breakfasts and lunches to all attending students. By the 2022-23 school year, over 40,000 schools adopted the provision, serving 19.9 million children.

• Schools participating in the Community Eligibility Provision saw a 2.4 percent reduction in obesity – in part because school-provided lunches can provide higher nutritional value for a low cost compared to other sources, particularly for low-income families.

• In addition to reducing child hunger, the Community Eligibility Provision has also eliminated school lunch debt in many districts – reducing burdens on low-income families who otherwise don't qualify for free meals.

• Beyond federal policy, eight states – California, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, and New Mexico – have passed laws guaranteeing free school meals for all children, regardless of income, and have reported a range of benefits.
   

Be sure to follow the One Country Project on Twitter and Facebook, and listen to The Hot Dish podcast.