“FRUSTRATING ... CLAUSTROPHOBIC ... HELPLESS”
HUFFINGTON
07.21.13
acclimate to a new community
(Boyer had moved from Seattle).
And because there is no day care
in Goldendale — there isn’t even
a Starbucks — the loss of Head
Start would make the days more
cramped and life less flexible.
“When these resources get cut,
it hurts families,” said Boyer. “It’s
making it more difficult for lowincome people. It is frustrating. It
feels claustrophobic. It feels helpless really.”
COURTESY OF REBECCA BOYER
W
ith sequestration
now more than
four months along,
members of Congress have had
ample time to observe and digest
what the Obama administration
cooked up and they, ultimately,
passed. They don’t seem particularly nauseated by the meal.
Small fixes have been made,
most infamously to end the furloughing of air traffic controllers.
Plenty of lawmakers, meanwhile,
have protested the injustice of
the other cuts, including those to
Head Start. Even the occasional
fiscal conservative will argue —
while back in his or her district —
that it all could have and should
have been avoided.
But as far as legislative items
go, getting rid of sequestration
has fallen far from the top of Congress’ priorities.
“There is nothing being done
to fix it at the moment,” said Rep.
Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), one of
Head Start’s foremost champions
in the House. “There is a total
lack of understanding of what the
severity of the effects are. You
have people who have lost their
jobs, who are waiting and can’t
get in. The door is shut, and they
won’t know that until they try
and enroll their child and can’t
do it. And so far the weight of
this has not made its way to the
If Head Start
closes in
small-town
Goldendale,
Wash., which
doesn’t have
another day care
center, parents
like Rebecca
Boyer will be
left with very
few options.