Ranking Member Scott Slams HHS Plan to Undermine Head Start
WASHINGTON – Today, Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its proposed rule to deregulate Head Start, undermining the program’s quality standards among other things.
“For more than 60 years, Head Start has provided young children with high-quality early education, health and dental care, and healthy meals. It also connects families with services that help lift them out of poverty.
“Today, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a plan to effectively deregulate Head Start as we know it. And this is consistent with the fact that this Administration has made no secret of their desire to end the Head Start program — a plan lifted straight from the pages of Project 2025 (page 482). The proposed regulation would undermine Head Start’s educational quality standards, strip away requirements designed to ensure children meet critical benchmarks, and make it harder for English Language Learners to participate fully and engage with their peers.
“With wages failing to keep pace with the cost of living, eligible families are relying on Head Start now more than ever. It is critical that these programs be empowered to maintain the same comprehensive services that they have successfully provided to children and families for decades.
“I strongly urge the Trump Administration to abandon this harmful proposal and work with Congress to expand Head Start, not hollow it out.”
Background:
On June 12, 2026, Ranking Member Scott and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders demanded that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) withdraw its proposed rule to roll back provisions that would have raised most Head Start teacher pay by $10,000 per year and ensured basic benefits for the program’s full-time staff.
On July 15, 2025, Ranking Member Scott and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Appropriations Committee, reintroduced the Child Care for Working Families Act, comprehensive legislation to ensure families across America can find and afford the high-quality child care they need.
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