Murray, a former preschool teacher and the Senate’s leading advocate for child care, secured $12.35 billion for Head Start in the FY26 funding bill she negotiated
Murray has sounded the alarm on Trump’s leaked memo to gut Head Start and Trump’s illegal impoundment of Head Start funds
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), released the following statement in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued today by the Department of Health and Human Services that guts Head Start by shredding basic standards that keep kids safe and advance their education. The rule removes most of Head Start’s 133 pages of requirements for math and literacy curriculums, class sizes, medical screenings, home visits and more.
“Whether it was his leaked memo to eliminate Head Start, his illegal impoundments, or his decimation of the Office of Head Start—President Trump has all but declared war on Head Start and affordable child care in America. After Congress and the nation forcefully rejected Trump’s efforts to destroy Head Start, this administration now wants to quietly gut Head Start by eliminating the basic health and safety standards our kids rely on—well I refuse to stay silent about this travesty.
“For millions of families, Head Start is the first place anyone will check their child’s hearing, vision, or teeth—ignoring the health and safety of these kids today will just cost us more tomorrow. There’s a reason Head Start tells providers how many toddlers one adult can supervise—it’s how many kids any one teacher can actually keep safe on a busy day. This proposed rule also gives programs across the country a green light to slam the door shut on any kid with a disability they decide is too difficult or too much work to take care of. None of this helps families—much of it could lead to catastrophe.
“This rule is not final—every parent and teacher can speak up and speak out to save Head Start. I want parents to weigh in, and I want teachers to weigh in—because I have seen what happens when enough ordinary people refuse to let something get ripped away from them. I will press administration officials when they come before Congress, I will sound the alarm as loudly as possible, I will carry this fight in every negotiation I walk into—and I will keep at it until we protect Head Start.”
Head Start currently serves over 750,000 kids nationwide, and the program has served more than 40 million children and their families nationwide since its inception in 1965. There are over 17,000 Head Start centers nationwide and these centers are particularly important in serving rural communities with fewer options for care.
Throughout his second term, President Trump has gutted the offices that keep Head Start centers and child care programs across the country running. Since taking office, the Trump administration has fired 40 to 50% of the staff at the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Head Start and Office of Child Care. In April of 2025, Trump continued to hollow out HHS, by shuttering five of the 10 regional offices for both Office of Child Care and Office of Head Start, which served 22 states and five territories. President Trump also illegally impounded funding provided by Congress for Head Start programs across America, in violation of the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). In response, Senator Murray raised alarm bells and she led her colleagues in demanding that the funds get moving.
Notably, a leaked memo indicated that the Trump administration—in keeping with Project 2025—would push to completely eliminate Head Start as a part of its FY26 budget request. Ultimately, strong public outcry and backlash prevented the Trump administration from including the elimination of Head Start in its budget request.
In April, President Trump said “Don’t send any money for day care, because the United States can’t take care of day care… We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care… It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.”
Last year, HHS took steps to attack immigrant children and their families by issuing a notice reinterpreting longstanding guidance under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) to reinterpret Head Start as a federal public benefit subject to immigration restrictions. The guidance, currently tied up in litigation and stalled from being enforced, threw programs and families into chaos, sparking confusion and driving many families to keep their kids at home out of fear of discrimination or immigration enforcement.
HHS has also proposed changes to the Head Start Program that would roll back regulations targeted at increasing salaries for the Head Start workforce—one of the top barriers to recruitment and retention leading to fewer children being served.
In the face of Trump’s calls to cut investments in state early childhood education programs and repeated attacks on the program, Democrats have consistently defended resources for child care and early childhood education. In March of this year, Senator Murray led her colleagues and established a new working group as the latest major push in Democrats’ fight to lower costs and deliver child care for every American family. The Child Care for America working group will bring Democratic members of Congress together to coordinate broad support for landmark child care legislation.
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