Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post

Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post ;..  Our nation's federal budget should reflect our nation's priorities. This includes simultaneously addressing short-term national crisis, making longer-term investments in our nation's future that we need to prosper, and living within our means and not leaving the next generation with a burdensome debt. It is a tough balancing act that should reflect the American people's values, including a commitment to ensure the next generation has to opportunity to achieve their full God-given potential.

As Rep. Rosa DeLauro said at the Children's Budget Summit earlier this month:

Every parent sees endless possibilities and great hope in the eyes of a child. As a nation, when we look at today's children, we see tomorrow's leaders -- scientists, teachers, doctors and diplomats. But for our children to thrive and America to stay competitive in the 21st-century global economy, we must support their development, their families and the public policies that work for both.

Unfortunately, many federal policymakers are simply not making children a priority. According to Children's Budget 2012, the federal government now allocates less than eight percent of its budget to our nation's children, who represent one-quarter of our population but all of our future.

Whether acting to slash billions of dollars out of child nutrition, allowing hundreds of millions of dollars through Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) to expire that was dedicated to the poorest children in the poorest states, taking actions to declare pizza to be a vegetable in school lunches, or passing legislation to prohibit the Department of Labor from taking action to protect child laborers from injuries and deaths in agricultural settings, Congress is clearly choosing not to make children a priority.

In fact, Congress has chosen to disproportionately cut investments in children, as discretionary spending on children has declined by about $2 billion since 2010. Some might think this is due to the fact that all federal spending is being reduced to combat the federal deficit, but the fact is that children have borne a disproportionate share of the reduction. In fact, the share of federal spending going to kids fell six percent in the past year compared to all the other areas within the federal budget.