U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison Raises Alarm on the Devastating Impact the Trump Administration’s Proposal to Eliminate Head Start Would Have on Minnesota

WASHINGTON, DC -Today, U.S. Representative Kelly Morrison (MN-03) joined leadership from Minnesota Head Start for a virtual press conference to discuss the devastating impact that the Trump-Vance Administration's proposal to eliminate the Head Start program would have on Minnesota families, state budget, and economy. Rep. Morrison was joined by Minnesota Head Start Executive Director Kraig Gratke. You can watch the full virtual press conference HERE.

The Trump Administration is proposing to completely eliminate Head Start, which provides early childhood care and education to 800,000 children nationwide.

• This proposal would mean that more than 12,000 children and their families in Minnesota would lose their access to their child care and early childhood education.
• In 2024 alone, Head Start provided 8 million hours of child care to Minnesotans.
• More than 75% of Minnesota Head Start parents are in the workforce and rely on child care for their employment.

Watch the full press conference remarks HERE.

Read Rep. Morrison's full remarks below:

Good afternoon,

Thanks so much for joining us this afternoon to talk about really the devastating impact that eliminating Head Start would have on Minnesota families, our state budget, and our economy.

We're here today to raise the alarm bell that the Trump Administration is planning to eliminate Head Start, the nationwide program that provides early childhood care, health care, and education to 800,000 children across our country.

The Trump Administration's current budget proposal completely eliminates all funding for the Head Start program.

That means cutting critical early childhood care, health care, and education for hundreds of thousands of children across our country.

That means cutting critical early childhood care, health care, and education for thousands of families right here in Minnesota.

I'm joined here by the Executive Director of Minnesota Head Start Kraig Gratke, who will talk in just a moment about what specifically this would mean for the Head Start program in our state and for Minnesota families.

But what we're doing here today is to make explicitly clear: that President Trump's budget would be catastrophic. It would mean thousands of Minnesota families would lose access to their child care and early childhood education.

That is completely unacceptable. We cannot let that happen.

I can tell you as an OBGYN, I have spent my life caring for moms and helping parents grow their families. It's unconscionable to me to think about taking away critical supports that help families raise their children. These are extremely important times of children's lives - and we need to make sure they have the care, the health care, the child care, the education that they need to develop and grow and live happy, healthy lives.

This budget proposal comes as we are already facing a child care crisis in our state and across the country.

This will unquestionably make it worse.

We already don't have enough child care centers.

Child care is already way too expensive.

This would make it worse.

This would send thousands of Minnesota families into a scramble to search for child care, when they are already facing an unworkable shortage of child care options.

And the vast majority of the parents who get their child care through Head Start are employed… What will they do? They need a place to send their children so that they can go to work.

But the Trump Administration is proposing to take that away.

This action by the Administration will pull parents out of the workforce. It will set back hundreds of thousands of children. It will be devastating to our state budget and be a major blow to the economy.

The other really big point I want to make here today is that Head Start has been supported by both Democrats and Republicans for decades. Especially here in Minnesota.

Just last year - actually almost a year ago to this day - on May 1, 2024, Minnesota Congressman Pete Stauber led more than 30 Republicans, including fellow Minnesota Congressman Brad Finstad, in a letterto the Appropriations Committee urging them to fund Head Start at the quote: "highest level the Subcommittee deems possible."

I have the letter here. In their letter, these Republican Members of Congress wrote:

"While there are disagreements on the best use of taxpayer dollars, investing in Head Start is a fiscally responsible course of action. A recent article in the Journal of Political Economy concluded that Head Start children - and their children, as well - have, on average, higher educational attainment, lower teen pregnancy, and less criminal engagement. Another study concluded that every dollar invested in high-quality early childhood education programs yields a return of seven-to-nine dollars in long-term savings and societal benefits.

"In addition to providing children a high-quality early education, the Head Start model - one committed to 360-degree development of the whole child - provides a strong foundation which sets children up for a lifetime of learning and growth in school and in the wider world. Head Start is critical for bridging developmental gaps for children who may not have the same access to opportunities by providing access to comprehensive health and nutrition services, including medical and dental screenings, nutritious meals, and referrals to health care providers. During the 2022-2023 program year alone, Head Start staff conducted over 4.4 million home visits, helped over 560,000 children stay up-to-date on early and periodic diagnostic and treatment screenings, and provided preventative dental care to over 675,000 children.

"For decades, Congress has united around Head Start to provide high-quality early learning and support for our nation's underserved children and their families. FY25 represents an opportunity to reinvigorate this vital federal-to-local partnership.

"As you evaluate FY25 funding requests, we urge the Subcommittee to prioritize Head Start, a proven, crisis-tested program that unlocks the doors to opportunity for children and families across our great nation. This will allow Head Start to continue putting those children and their families on the path to success in school, in work, and in life, ultimately leading to greater prosperity for future generations.

"Thank you for your consideration of this request.

"Sincerely, Pete Stauber, Member of Congress."

And then many more Members, Republican Members, joined him in signing this letter.

That is exactly what we as lawmakers should be doing. I commend them. It's a beautiful letter.

Putting our children and our families on the path to success in school, in work, and in life.

Setting our children and families up for success…

Creating a country where they can be healthy and thrive…

But this budget proposal to eliminate Head Start completely undermines all of that.

Yet again, the Trump Administration is failing children and families.

Yet again, they are choosing to give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of child care for our families and education for our children.

It's bleak. But the good news is - as we have seen here in this letter - there is proven, strong, bipartisan support here.

So in this moment, I am calling on all our Republican Members of Congress to continue their strong vocal support of this program - their strong vocal support for the prosperity of our future generations.

We must all stand together, stand up against these disastrous budget proposals, and stand up for our children and families.

We must ensure that we create a nation where our families have the support they need to be healthy and thrive.

I'm honored to have Kraig Gratke, Executive Director of Minnesota Head Start, join us and I'll now turn it over to him.

###