Ranking Member Cassidy Blasts Biden’s Illegal Rule That Will Prevent 104,764 Children from Participating in Head Start Programs

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, blasted a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) final rule that dramatically increases the cost of federal Head Start programs, in violation of federal law, and when fully implemented will prevent 104,764 children from receiving these educational services.  

This final regulation is substantially similar to the proposed Biden-Harris rule, which Cassidy previously rebuked earlier this year. Additionally, 25,000 Head Start teachers and parents wrote a letter in opposition to the proposed rule.  

“The Biden-Harris administration is denying educational opportunities to low-income children by drastically increasing the cost of Head Start. Even Head Start teachers have come out against this,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Children should have access to more educational opportunities, not less. This rule is deeply misguided, not to mention illegal.”  

The final Biden-Harris rule imposes federally mandated wage increases for staff, which includes a $15 federal minimum wage for all support staff. This policy violates federal law in which Congress explicitly set a wage range that accounted for location and average compensation in the area. According to HHS, the wage mandate could increase costs for Head Start programs by $62 million per year, reducing the number of funded Head Start slots available to low-income children by 14 percent or 104,764 children.  

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