WASHINGTON -- April 29 -- Children's Defense Fund Founder and CEO Marian Wright Edelman issued the following statement in response to passage of the 2006 Budget Resolution by both chambers of Congress:

"This Budget Resolution unjustly hurts our children and grandchildren by lavishing billions in new tax breaks on the wealthy even as it forces major cuts in critical investments that low-income children need to survive and thrive.

"Millions of our children will suffer twice from this unwarranted action. In the short term they will be denied vital investments in their health, their early childhood development and their education. In the future they will be saddled with a crushing debt in order to heap more tax benefits on the rich.

"The budget measure approved by the House and Senate will severely damage the framework of policies and funding levels that was crafted over many decades to protect the vulnerable through the Medicaid, Head Start and other programs. While the tax cuts primarily benefit the wealthy, they starve our nation of the resources essential to our children's health, education, safety and community stability. This is neither right nor sensible."

The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. We have never taken government funds.

###