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Sen. Tammy Baldwin introduces bill to fund Head Start during shutdown

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Nikole Killion
Nikole Killion
Congressional Correspondent
Nikole Killion is a CBS News congressional correspondent based in Washington D.C., who has covered some of the biggest stories on Capitol Hill since 2021. Killion has also served a key role in CBS News' election coverage during the 2024 and 2020 presidential races covering the Trump, Biden, and Harris campaigns.
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Nikole Killion

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Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin introduced a bill Friday to restore funding for Head Start programs during the ongoing government shutdown.

"My bill would give families certainty that Head Start and the care it provides will continue," Baldwin said in a statement provided exclusively to CBS News. "If my Republican colleagues don't want to sit down and talk about saving 22 million Americans from skyrocketing health care costs, I hope they can at least agree that 750,000 children and their families shouldn't pay the price for Washington dysfunction."

The Keep Head Start Funding Act of 2025 would ensure that programs could keep operating even if Congress hasn't passed new appropriations bills. It would retroactively take effect from Sept. 30 — immediately before government funding lapsed and the shutdown began. 

At least 140 Head Start programs, serving 65,000 children, have not received federal funding to renew grants in October or early November, according to the National Head Start Association. As of Nov. 1, the organization says 20 programs have partially or fully closed as a result of the shutdown, affecting nearly 10,000 children.

"Simply put, there is broad bipartisan, bicameral support for Head Start in Congress, because it works," said Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association. 

This month, the Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program shuttered its Head Start program, impacting more than 300 children. Even if the shutdown ends, Head Start director Tawny Hardyman told CBS News she expects the program could remain closed through the end of the year.  

"My main concern is for the well being of the children and families," Hardyman explained. "Once they come to their resolution, then the federal workers that support the Head Start grants have to be recalled back to work and they have to process our applications." 

"What we have told staff is to be prepared, possibly through the rest of this calendar year until December 31st," she said.

Other programs have been granted a temporary reprieve. In Tallahassee, Florida, the Capital Area Community Action Agency has relied on donations and a patchwork of support from local schools and churches to keep most of its Head Start programs afloat through mid-November. Once that is exhausted, the program, which has 378 children enrolled, could be forced to close.  

"As far as having the money to run the operation, pay employees, things of that nature, we won't have that," said Head Start director Darrel James. 

James welcomed news of Baldwin's bill, given the uncertainty of the government funding impasse, now in its 38th day.

"We are definitely concerned that it could be a lot longer," James said. "That's the scary part." 

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