Summer is heating up and so are the politics in Washington. Right now, Congress is debating how to reduce the deficit. Well-heeled lobbyists representing big business and the very wealthy are descending on Washington, D.C. in full force to make sure that their corporate subsidies and tax cuts don't get eliminated in the budget negotiations.

Our voices are needed too! Why? Because critical programs like Medicaid -- which provides health coverage for more than one out of three of our nation's children -- are at the top of the list for drastic cuts.  If we don't stand up for our kids now in the budget negotiations, no one will.

** Send a letter now telling Congress not to enrich corporate special interests at the expense of our kids! http://action.momsrising.org/letter/budget4kids

What's happening?

Right now, a group of negotiators from both parties are meeting to seek a budget agreement that would pave the way for Congress to raise the debt ceiling in early August.[2] There are many different ways to cut the deficit and the decisions made now will have long-term impacts on the future of our children and our economy.

Indeed, some in Congress are suggesting the only way to cut the deficit is to make drastic cuts in the very programs that are helping build our future economy by providing children and families in need with food, affordable child care, and health care.  This is pennywise and pound foolish. Studies show that cutting basic kids program ends up costing taxpayers more in the long run.

What's worse, many of these same members of Congress who argue that we must cut programs for kids, insist that our nation has enough money in our federal budget to spend billions to give tax breaks for millionaires, should ignore bi-partisan recommendations to cut nearly a trillion dollars of unnecessary defense spending, and should continue providing $40 billion in giveaways to Big Oil at a time when oil companies are making record profits on sky-high gas prices.

This doesn't add up! We need to build a strong nation, with strong growing families who will be the economic engine of our future--not transfer taxpayer dollars away from people toward corporations that are already making record profits.

*We must stand up for kids! Tell Congress to use a balanced approach to reducing our deficit and prioritize our children over corporate special interests. http://action.momsrising.org/letter/budget4kids

Prioritizing corporate special interests over kids has never been the path to a strong America.  The tax cuts passed over the last decade have been followed by the slowest job growth since World War II and are the number one driver of the federal budget deficit today. In fact, the average American's income actually dropped in the years following the tax cuts.  These tax cuts to the wealthy didn't create jobs, but have simply made the rich richer and further squeezed middle and low income families already struggling to make ends meet.

Let's do better by our kids and families this time around, and work for deficit solutions that prioritize the needs of our nation's families, not corporate special interests.

What exactly is at stake? Reports are that negotiators are proposing massive cuts to Medicaid, the program that provides health care coverage for more than one third of our nation's children. Making sure children are healthy isn't only good for kids, it also makes good financial sense. If children and families don't get critical preventative care, we will all pay more down the line to fix health problems we could have avoided. And if children are sick and miss or can't pay attention in school, then we spend more in education and grade repetitions.

Families need good jobs, high quality education for our children, good nutrition, and quality health care. We want to invest in our children and families today, so we can succeed in the future.

Cross posted from the Huffington Post.