Increasing Opportunity and Success for Children and Parents Through Evidence-Based Home Visiting Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended.

Like all my colleagues on this side of the aisle, I strongly support reauthorization of the home visiting program before it expires on September 30. We know it has an incredible track record of success improving child and family outcomes in our most vulnerable communities.

We also support a timely reauthorization of the program before its expiration, to ensure families across the country who are benefiting from home visiting do not face a disruption in services.

Unfortunately, Republicans have put forward a partisan bill with reckless policy changes that are not supported by experts and with only three legislative days remaining. It is incredibly disappointing, Mr.
Speaker.

Earlier this summer, I got to see firsthand how impactful this program can be. The families who choose to participate receive regular home visits from nurses and social workers, often from the same neighborhoods, who help to create healthy and supportive home environments for children and parents alike--parents like Jessie, from my home State of Washington, who struggled before she got connected with home visiting.

Jessie says: ``Home visiting changed my life and helped me break the cycle of poor parenting.''

The results can't be denied. It has been shown to reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect by 50 percent, while, at the same time, reducing domestic violence, improving children's school readiness, and increasing parents' self-sufficiency and economic well- being.

It is precisely the kind of evidence-based model that we know gives us a great return. Unfortunately, there are huge unmet needs for home visiting services across the country. Last year, more than 29,000 eligible families were unserved in Washington State alone.

That is why I am so disappointed this legislation fails to make the meaningful investments we need to lift more families out of poverty and into the middle class.

Democrats even offered a proposal to double funding over 5 years, which was fully paid for, but the majority refused to allow a vote.

Instead, they have included objectionable policy changes that are not supported by experts who have said the bill's matching requirement for States is the single greatest threat to home visiting.

We should not be taking steps that undermine the program or that reduce the number of States and communities that are working to help families thrive.

We should also not have waited to consider this issue until days before the program expires, like we have done with the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, the Community Health Center Fund, the National Health Service Corps, and so many other programs that are essential for the children and families that we represent.

It is unacceptable that so many programs are at risk due to Congressional inaction. We need to do a better job of providing families, States, and providers the long-term stability that they need.

My amendment is a step in the right direction. It eliminates the bill's dangerous policy changes and, instead, provides a clean, 5-year reauthorization of the home visiting program, giving States, counties, and Tribes the tools and visibility they need to help more children and families succeed.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote ``yes.'' Home visiting has a long history of bipartisan support, and I hope we can come together to take the program forward, not backward.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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