Supporting Families
Joe Biden On Supporting Families Family and Medical Leave Act Senator Biden understands how difficult it is to balance work with family life, because he was a single parent himself with small children. He recognizes that it is particularly hard for women who often have the sole responsibility for health-care decisions, caring for sick kids or the elderly and getting them to their doctor’s appointments, hospital tests and so forth. The Family and Medical Leave Act that has given 50 million workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to look after a sick family member was strongly supported by Senator Biden. For many people who cannot afford unpaid leave, he is co- sponsoring the Healthy Families Act. This Act requires employers with 15 or more workers to provide seven paid sick (personal) days to care for their own and their families medical needs. Biden's legislation has promoted college aid and loan programs and has allowed families to deduct on their annual income-tax returns up to $10,000 per year in higher-education expenses. His enacted Kids 2000 legislation which established a public/private partnership to help provide computer centers, teachers, Internet access, and technical training to young people across the nation, particularly to low-income and at-risk youth. Support for Head Start Senator Biden knows first hand that raising healthy, well adjusted children takes the support of the whole community at both local and national levels. His proactive stance on women’s and children’s issues proves he knows that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. The Senator wants to make two years of pre-school available to all parents. A program called Head Start currently serves more than 900,000 students and Biden wants to increase that number to 2 million. The Early Head Start program covers 60,000 toddlers and Senator Biden wants to greatly increase that number to almost a quarter of a million. Senator Biden has pressured legislators to provide more resources for the Women, Infants, and Children program that provides food, nutrition counseling and access to health services for pregnant women, new moms and their babies. Crack Down on Deadbeat Dads For twenty years, Senator Biden has fought to shore up resources to make deadbeat dads accountable for their families. The federal government cannot ensure that children have a father in the home but it can make sure that those children receive their father's financial support. As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he helped enact two major child support initiatives into law. First, it makes it a federal crime to cross state lines to avoid paying child support. Secondly, state courts can enforce child support orders of other states.
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Sarah Palin On Supporting Families Some sources are erroneously reporting that as governor Palin slashed special education funding, while others are now incorrectly saying she increased funding 300% The truth is that the funding was increased, but Palin only signed a bill that was developed by others. CNN reported that the bill’s actual co-sponsors felt “frustrated… by [her] stepping in only at the last minute.” Meanwhile, Sonya Kerr, an Anchorage attorney specializing in disability rights, sued the state and Palin for failing to provide adequate services for children with disabilities. Palin did cut $125,000 in funding for assistive technology for people with disabilities. According to Alaskan disability rights advocates, before her acceptance speech she showed little interest in disability issues. “I can tell you she wasn’t a champion for disabled children as governor,” said one state senator. Palin’s sister’s son has autism so Palin should not have just become aware of these special needs after her son’s birth this year.
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