January 18, 2018 The Honorable Mitch McConnell The Honorable ...

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Jan 18, 2018 - Speaker of the House. Minority ... United States House of Representatives ... 50 states and more than 100
January 18, 2018 The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority Leader United States Senate U.S Capitol Building, S-230 Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Charles Schumer Minority Leader United States Senate U.S. Capitol Building, S-221 Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Paul Ryan Speaker of the House United States House of Representatives U.S. Capitol Building, H- 232 Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Minority Leader United States House of Representatives U.S. Capitol Building, H-204 Washington, DC 20515

Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Ryan and Minority Leader Pelosi: On behalf of Parents as Teachers (PAT), I urge you to reauthorize the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program immediately. PAT is a network of organizations and professionals that supports thousands of families in all 50 states and more than 100 tribal communities and Urban Indian organizations through a proven parent education model featuring evidence-based home visiting. Our model consistently yields improvements in children’s development through increasing school readiness and improving parent knowledge of early childhood development and parenting; identifying delays and health issues; and preventing child abuse and neglect. The MIECHV program is the sole federal funding stream for evidence-based home visiting. The program has always enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress, a fact we take great pride in because supporting children and families is not and should not be a partisan issue. Congress has not given up on MIECHV. For months now, a bicameral, bipartisan group of lawmakers have been working behind the scenes to reauthorize the program for five years at no less than level funding, providing much-needed stability to the home visiting field. Those negotiations were linked to other health extenders, including the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Community Health Centers and additional programs that provide vital services to families and communities throughout the country. PAT is pleased that Congress is moving on CHIP in the continuing resolution that was introduced this week, but disheartened to see other vital programs such as MIECHV left behind. PAT’s top priority is to ensure reauthorization of the MIECHV program before the impact of its expiration fully impacts the families, home visiting field and the critical investment Congress

has generously provided to build infrastructure for home visiting in every state and in tribal communities. I once again ask that you reauthorize MIECHV immediately, for the sake of our children and families. Sincerely,

Constance Gully President and CEO