Bresnahan addresses shutdown’s impact on Head Start funding
WILKES-BARRE — U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan spoke Thursday to address the impact of the federal government shutdown on Head Start, the federally funded preschool program that helps thousands of children in Luzerne County.
He also expounded on his position on the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, the possible expiration of which has left families on edge and Congress in a stalemate.
The freshman congressman’s comments came after he and his wife, Chelsea Bresnahan, read a story book to 15 students, ages 3 to 5, in the Head Start class of teacher Danielle Snopeck at the Lynn Evans Biga Center.
“Obviously (with) the energy inside the classroom, we’re going to continue to be extremely supportive of the Head Start program,” said Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas Twp. “So, that is exactly why we need to reopen the government, to make sure that programs like this continue to be just as impactful as they clearly are.”
Bresnahan said he has been a supporter of Head Start funding during his first year in Congress. He said he supported keeping federal funding in place for Head Start at $12.3 billion and oversaw the disbursement of around $11.27 million to the Lackawanna and Luzerne County Head Start programs over the summer. (Trump administration officials had proposed cutting Head Start funding earlier this year and was met with bipartisan opposition.) Before being elected to Congress, Bresnahan noted he visited Head Start Luzerne County as part of the Leadership Wilkes-Barre program.
“We were one of the original letter signers…to continue to maintain Head Start funding,” Bresnahan said.
One-hundred forty Head Start programs serving over 65,000 students across the country will see funding cuts if the federal government shutdown continues to Nov. 1, according to an Associated Press report.
After his reading, Bresnahan held an extensive, closed-door meeting with Luzerne County Head Start Executive Director Beth White.
White said after her meeting with the congressman that Luzerne County Head Start receives its funding on a calendar-year basis and so would be protected from the shutdown’s effects through the end of December — though she said there is still cause for funding concern.
Officials at Luzerne County Head Start projects they will receive around $12 million in funding in 2025 to support 222 Early Head Start students and 345 Head Start students, all of whom have a household income at or below the federal poverty level. The commonwealth gives Luzerne County Head Start another $7.4 million to support 503 students in Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, which supports students whose household incomes are no greater than triple the federal poverty level.
White said the state-budget impasse has put those latter programs in peril, with all state funding frozen since July 1.
“Those (state) dollars do run out,” White said. “Those are difficult decisions that we are going to have to make….”
Meanwhile, a failure at the federal level to not just maintain, but increase, Head Start funding has left her and her colleagues struggling to keep pace with rising expenses. The leadership at the Head Start Program in Lackawanna County, Agency for Community Empowerment of NEPA, has also expressed alarm about stagnant funding.
“We have not received an increase. Our bills though keep going up,” White said. “If we are going into another year of flat funding, we are going to have to make some different decisions, because our budget dollars only go so far.”
White said she was concerned federal-funding cuts not directly related to Head Start may still have an impact on her students and their families. She said the shutdown’s blockage of funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps or SNAP could eventually take a toll on Head Start parents, students, and staff.
“We have been talking about the need that we’re going to see with food insecurities and really, realistically some of our staff are going to have those same food insecurities,” White said.
While the immediate concern is the federal and state spending stalemates, White said any cuts to SNAP, as well as health care programs such as Medicaid could also hurt the very families Head Start was designed to help. She said this included projected Medicaid and SNAP cuts that will go into effect due to new eligibility requirements under the One Big Beautiful Bill legislation President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4. (Bresnahan joined all other House Republicans but two in voting for the One Big Beautiful Bill. He has argued it would make Medicaid and other programs more fair and eligibility requirements includes several exemptions for families and children.)
“Our families live in poverty,” White said. “Our kids need to be healthy.”
White said she discussed her concerns about Head Start funding with Bresnahan and said it was important that he come personally to witness Head Start’s crucial community role.
“We needed to have this visit,” White said. “It’s a matter of talking and then seeing. To see the children, to see the service, he needed to be here. And I am so glad he was able to come and see what we do.”
Kay Simon, who is originally from New York and now a Wilkes-Barre resident, has several grand-nephews and grand-nieces in Head Start. She also reflected on the importance of the program.
“I think it’s very important, because the children need it,” Simon said. “It helps them so much.”