“If a budget is a moral document, then President Trump’s budget is an immoral and cruel outline designed to cut resources for family supporting programs in order to fund an inhumane border wall that would separate families. It is a one-two punch for those who are already struggling to provide a better life for themselves and their loved ones. Adding insult to injury are the administration’s disingenuous attempts at providing funding for child care and paid leave. These inadequate programs cynically check the box and further harm families by excluding those who need these resources the most.

At a time when we should be focused on finding solutions for some of our nation’s pressing issues, such as closing the wage gap, tackling maternal mortality, expanding access to reproductive health care, and providing affordable quality health care, our executive leadership is engaged in an all-out war against the most vulnerable among us with particular harm to communities of color.

This past election the American people spoke loudly and definitively about what kind of country we want. We elected the most diverse and female Congress in history with a group of leaders who ran on hugely popular issues like paid family leave for all and affordable health coverage for those with pre-existing conditions.

Polling on paid leave shows that 8 in 10 voters support a comprehensive national paid family and medical leave policy that covers all people who work. Yet the president’s sham paid parental leave includes only new parents and would exclude 75 percent of working people who use Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) leave in a year. His plan also fails to provide sufficient time off or adequate funding, and it would pit unemployed workers against those who need leave by jeopardizing access to unemployment insurance.

It’s no surprise that this administration has completely ignored the mandate of the people. Their willingness to shut down the government and leave millions of families without paychecks shows their ability to turn a tantrum into a man-made crisis. But families who are trying to make ends meet are sick of lurching from one Trump crisis to the next. In that vein, the National Partnership will continue to work with leaders in Congress to pass an agenda that’s reflective of the needs of all working families. We look forward to addressing these critical issues with willing partners who understand that helping families means looking at these issues holistically in order to help lift up all our communities.”