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The First Focus Campaign for Children LEGISLATIVE Scorecard
As the 118th Congress draws to a close, First Focus Campaign for Children’s Legislative Scorecard reveals a discouraging reality: The nation’s lawmakers have largely failed our children.
This session of Congress began in January 2023 with children near the top of the country’s agenda. Significant and long-overdue investments by the federal government had stabilized child care, curbed child hunger, kept millions of children insured, and beaten back child poverty to the lowest level in our nation’s history. These investments pushed the share of federal spending on children to a record high of 11.98% in FY 2021. All Congress had to do was keep this trend going.
And yet…
Congressional inaction doomed the nation’s children from the start. Over and over, lawmakers refused to consider or actively tanked legislation to improve the lives of children. Perhaps the most egregious example is the failure to advance a Child Tax Credit proposal that would have improved the lives of 16 million low-income children and lifted 400,000 out of poverty. In this case, 44 senators let politics intervene, choosing to use children as a bargaining chip toward a 2025 debate by filibustering any action this year.
The session ends on Dec. 31, 2024, with investment in the nation’s children already down more than 3 percentage points from its high, representing the third straight year of decline. More than 5 million children have lost health care coverage. One-in-10 kids are without enough to eat and poverty has reclaimed 1 million children.
Fortunately, the First Focus Campaign for Children’s Legislative Scorecard demonstrates that there are many important Champions and Defenders in Congress working to improve the lives of children. The Scorecard reflects the votes, bill sponsorships, and other actions lawmakers took — or didn’t — during the entirety of the 118th Congress. Those who consistently used their office to actively promote the well-being of children are named Champions for Children. Those who often prioritized children and stood strong against attacks on them earned the mark of Defenders of Children. In the face of a Congress that often chose a path of inaction or worse, the Champions and Defenders identified in our Scorecard stood up and spoke out to support and protect the lives and well-being of our nation’s children.
We urge the public and our partners in the child advocacy community to use the Legislative Scorecard as a resource tool to thank those Champions and Defenders of children for their outstanding work, and to urge others to make children a greater priority in the upcoming 119th Congress. Only when Congress chooses to put our children first can we ensure both they and our nation achieve our greatest potential.
Champions and Defenders OF Children for the 118th Congress
This year’s 120 Champions and Defenders of Children include 40 senators and 80 representatives who have stepped forward to make “the best interests of children” a top priority in the Senate and House in the 118th Congress. They have all taken affirmative steps to positively address the problems facing children.
What makes the 120 Champions and Defenders unique is that they have repeatedly used their legislative roles to raise and move to the forefront those issues that are important for children. Champions consistently pursue policies and legislation that make children a priority across the full array of issue areas. Defenders more often than most consider and take action in support of the best interests of children in a number of votes and by sponsoring or cosponsoring of bills.
Others in Congress, who may just fall short in terms of points to qualify as a Champion or Defender, have also taken important votes or played a leadership role for children on some important aspects of policy that would either improve the lives of children or protect children from harm. We applaud these lawmakers for their work in those areas.
As Congress debates and sets the nation’s federal priorities on policy and budget matters, the Champions and Defenders cited in this report make children a “first focus” of their work in making public policy decisions. And as advocates for children, we want to take this opportunity to spotlight the 2024 Champions and Defenders of Children and express our gratitude and appreciation to them for their strong support for children
Methodology
Children rely on adults to ensure that their needs are addressed. Our Legislative Scorecard is intended to be a tool to hold our federal policymakers accountable for representing and addressing their needs. It honors those who use their voice to champion and defend the needs of children.
The FFCC Legislative Scorecard is based on a points system that has been innovative since its creation in 2010. Since its inception, we have scored legislative votes in which children would be significantly or predominately impacted, which is typical of many other legislative scorecards. In addition, when legislators take public actions on votes or in adding their names as sponsors or cosponsors to key legislation (both positively or negatively) that impacts children, our Legislative Scorecard captures that information.
Points are awarded to lawmakers for sponsoring or cosponsoring legislation of importance to children or taking key votes in support of the “best interests of children.” Furthermore, points are taken away when members of Congress sponsor or cosponsor bills or take votes that would be harmful to children.
Other scorecards often seek to “score” votes and legislation that may impact children, but legislator support or opposition may be unrelated to their support or opposition to the needs of children because kids are only a minor issue in the legislation. In contrast, the FFCC Scorecard measures positions on votes and legislation that are either specific to or that would disproportionately impact children. Thus, the FFCC Scorecard is the most child-focused national scorecard, as it more truly reflects the support or opposition to the “best interests of children” than other more general scorecards.
As the nation’s leading bipartisan voice for our nation’s children, First F
» Key Votes: FFCC recognizes that not all votes are equal. Therefore, we weigh major votes more heavily than minor votes. We also give members extra points if they show political courage to vote in the best interests of children despite an opposing position from a majority of their own party. For a list of Key Votes for and against children, see page 6 of the report.
» Key Bills: The FFCC Legislative Scorecard also recognizes that lawmakers often negotiate and make decisions on legislation well before House and Senate votes. Consequently, rather than just tracking votes on bills and amendments, the FFCC Legislative Scorecard includes a more in-depth analytical framework. Our Scorecard awards additional points to policymakers from our website’s “Bill Tracker” based on their sponsorship and co-sponsorship (original sponsors are awarded more points) of key legislation that helps children. We subtract points away from those lawmakers sponsoring or cosponsoring bills that harm children. For a list of Key Bills, see page 10 of the report.
Finally, we also award points based on membership in congressional caucuses specific to children and actions (including major letters, floor speeches, hearings, etc.) policymakers engage in that would positively or negatively impact children.