NCYL calls on lawmakers to reject dangerous and dehumanizing federal budget proposal that harms children

Proposal will endanger youth in areas that include child welfare, education, health care, justice and immigration

The National Center for Youth Law calls on federal lawmakers to oppose the deeply troubling federal budget proposal that will devastate children, families, and communities across the country. This reconciliation bill would cut nearly $300 billion from nutrition assistance and over $700 billion from Medicaid while diverting $20 billion in taxpayer money away from public schools through a federal voucher tax credit.

“A budget is more than numbers — it’s a statement of values,” said Shakti Belway, NCYL Executive Director. “This budget is a blueprint for abandoning children and youth at a time when they need investment and protection the most. NCYL stands against any measures that threaten young people's dignity, safety, or future.”

The proposed budget bill, which requires only a simple majority to pass and bypasses typical bipartisan processes, as previously detailed by NCYL, would dramatically slash essential support services and programs while expanding funding for harmful initiatives that promote things like detention, criminalization, and surveillance. These moves would only worsen disparities for communities of color, LGBTQIA2S+ youth, immigrant families, and under-resourced communities.

Among the key areas of concern in the current budget proposal:

• Children’s Health and Well-being: The proposal threatens to roll back funding for critical community-based supports that promote long-term family economic stability, support access to food and housing, and ensure families have meaningful access to reproductive and mental and behavioral health services. These cuts would disproportionately impact youth marginalized by state actors — particularly those in the foster and juvenile justice systems, and under-resourced rural communities — at a time of unprecedented youth mental health crises.
• Education: The budget creates the first-ever federal school voucher program through the Educational Choice for Children Act, providing 100% tax credits to donors who fund private school scholarships and diverting $20 billion in taxpayer money to private schools. This represents an unprecedented federal privatization of public education that would disproportionately harm students in low-income and rural communities, as well as those from communities of color, who depend on well-resourced public schools. Proposed cuts would further devastate public education, reduce civil rights enforcement in schools, strip students of essential mental health supports, and erode oversight of discriminatory discipline practices. These cuts would particularly harm Black, Indigenous, LGBTQIA2S+, and disabled students, deepening opportunity gaps and inequities.
• Youth Justice & Equity: Amid a national trend of states retreating from evidence-based youth justice reforms, the federal budget proposal eliminates funding for youth-centered data collection, adolescent development research, and best practices. Instead, it redirects resources toward punitive, outdated policies proven to harm youth and public safety. NCYL continues to build power with directly impacted youth and communities to collect, track, and advocate for data-driven, care-based alternatives to incarceration — and will fight to preserve federal investment in proven, community-based programs.
• Children’s Human Rights & Dignity: On the issue of immigration, the proposal poses grave threats to children and families. These include authorizations to indefinitely incarcerate children and families in unlicensed detention centers, hold children hostage in custody until families can pay exorbitant fines, dismantle longstanding legal protections which will increase risks of trafficking and exploitation, and permit officers to conduct invasive “examinations” for so-called gang markings on children.

NCYL is actively monitoring funding decisions and policy rollbacks that endanger youth impacted by public systems like child welfare, education, health care, justice and immigration — and its team of attorneys and advocates remains committed to defending young people's rights and well-being. NCYL urges lawmakers to reject this bill — which effectively takes funding from families in need to cut taxes for those with the highest income levels — and any proposal that undermines children’s safety and rights.

“This budget represents a devastating step backward for youth, families, and communities nationwide,” added Belway. “We will continue to mobilize legal advocacy, community partnerships, and grassroots action to protect the programs and protections young people and their families need and deserve.”

Contact your representative here to encourage them to stand up for children and family health, and here to protect the rights of immigrant children. 

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The National Center for Youth Law centers youth through research, community collaboration, impact litigation, and policy advocacy that fundamentally transforms our nation's approach to education, health, immigration, foster care, and youth justice. Our vision is a world in which every child thrives and has a full and fair opportunity to achieve the future they envision for themselves.