Tuesday, April 29, 2025

One-Pan Garlic Butter Shrimp & Veggies in the Kitchen

Paul e-mailed to note Good Catholic's recipe for One-Pan Garlic Butter Shrimp & Veggies:

 

A quick and easy seafood dish that cooks in under 20 minutes!

  • Ingredients: 1 lb. of shrimp, garlic, olive oil or butter, lemon, zucchini, bell peppers (or whatever veggies you have on hand).
  • Saute garlic in butter and or olive oil for a few minutes. Add veggies. Push veggies aside in the pan and add a little more butter to saute the shrimp until pink. Sprinkle with lemon and serve immediately.
  • Tip: Serve over rice or pasta.




As I sat among the more than 200,000 people who came to Rome to grieve the loss and celebrate the life of Pope Francis, one word kept running through my mind − mercy.

I thought of the pope’s motto – “Miserando atque eligendo." It translates as, "He looked at him with mercy and chose him.” It is a reference to Jesus selecting Matthew to be his disciple, not despite the fact that the tax collector was a sinner, but because of it.

I thought of the Jubilee Year of Mercy that Pope Francis proclaimed. I thought of “The Name of God is Mercy” that he wrote.

Most of all, I thought of his mission, his ministry, his life’s work.

I first met Francis at his inauguration as pope in 2013. I was vice president. Like millions of Catholics all over the world, I felt a surge of hope and optimism.

In Francis, I saw the revitalization of the faith I had grown up with. A faith that calls us to care for “the last and the least” among us. A faith that gives us the obligation to feed the hungry, care for the sick, lift up the poor, welcome the stranger. A faith that sees the humanity in everyone and believes we are all God’s children. A faith of forgiveness and compassion. Of dignity and respect. Of love and mercy.

Please read it in full.  It's a lovely column and a great remembrance of the People's Pope. 

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for Tuesday:



Tuesday, April 29, 2025.  Donald Chump continues to attack US citizens and immigrants and appears determined to see that someone gets popped in an ICE action, Pete Hegseth takes another belt as he remains Secretary of Defense, a MAGA liar needs to be exposed, and much more. 



Starting with the deeply unpopular Donald Chump, Kate Plummer (NEWSWEEK) reports:

President Donald Trump's approval rating among Hispanics has declined, new polling has revealed.

According to a new CNN poll, the proportion of Hispanic Americans who approve of the Republican has dropped by 13 percent since February, while a second poll has also suggested growing discontent among that group of the electorate.
Hispanic voters were integral in securing Trump the keys to the White House for a second time. While the demographic traditionally lean Democratic, Trump increased his share of the Hispanic vote from 16 percent in 2016 to 42 percent in 2024.


Of course it's declined.  Look at how he's terrorizing the immigrant community.  And then look at how he's terrorizing American citizens who are Latinos.  

And how he's putting everyone at risk -- the people being targeted as well as the ICE agents he's using.  From Ava and my "Media: Dangerous rip offs:"


They're being held like animals in cages with the exception that we'd demand much better conditions for animals.  This is repelling people, this reality of what Chump is actually doing. 

Again, nothing really happens in THE STUDIO but, in THE PLAYER, someone gets murdered.

Is that what's going to finally bury Chump's immigration plans?




The Trump administration has secretly allowed immigration agents to invade homes without a warrant for over a month, according to a leaked internal memo.

The memo, obtained by USA Today and issued by Attorney General Pam Bondi March 14, orders Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to break into the homes of suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua without a warrant.

It stated that ICE can curb the “proactive procedures” put in place to obtain a warrant, since they “will not always be realistic or effective in swiftly identifying and removing alien enemies.”


Is someone going to have to die to stop this policy?  If so, is it an ICE official that's going to get popped?

Grasp that this is the United States and guns are nearly as common as cell phones.  Also remember that 46 of the country's fifty states have open carry laws.  How many more warrantless kidnappings are going to take place?  And at what point is some concerned citizen seeing some woman like Rumeysa Ozturk being accosted on the street by people with no badges, no uniforms but maybe wearing masks -- at what point is some concerned citizen going to think these are mobsters trying to kidnap a woman off the street?

And if they shoot and kill an ICE agent, exactly what defense does the government think they can mount then?

Or maybe the ICE agent doesn't get killed.  Maybe they unload on the concerned citizen and kill that person on the street?

There are reasons that apprehension policies are in place.  There are reasons that require the police to identify themselves. 

Chump has tossed aside all legal requirements and those requirements exist not only to protect citizens, they also exist to protect law enforcement.  He's endangering everyone with his recklessness.

Someone is likely to get popped in one of these extralegal assignments Chump is carrying out.  When there's that kind of blood on his hands, what's Chump's defense going to be?



Secretary of State Marco Rubio forgot the Gospel According to Donald Trump on Sunday by admitting that anyone on U.S. soil is entitled to a fair hearing before being removed from the country.

“Yes, of course,” Rudio said in response to the host’s question of whether the Fifth Amendment still applies under Trump during his morning interview with MSNBC. “That’s what the law says!”

Perhaps conscious of having contradicted the latest White House statements and directives on the matter, he then scrambled to tell the network that “if you’re in this country illegally, you have no right to be here and you must be removed.”


If you are in the country with no right to be here?  That's a legal determination and it's why we have immigration courts. 

Instead, we have King Chump Dump circling the toilet and showing how heartless he can be.  Coach D explains it in the video below.


So, yes, Hispanic support for Chump is declining and will only continue to decline.  It's a direct result of Chump's policies. 




Border Czar Tom Homan and White House Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Trump's latest anti-immigrant measures on Monday, Trump's 99th day in office.Andrew Leyden/ZUMA
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President Donald Trump is continuing to prioritize his anti-immigration agenda despite multiple polls in recent days showing that most Americans disapprove of it.

On Monday, the White House announced that Trump will sign two executive orders, one directing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to draw up a list of sanctuary cities and states that are not complying with the federal government’s deportation orders, and another that will boost law enforcement capabilities to arrest immigrants.

At an early morning briefing alongside border czar Tom Homan, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to justify the plan by reiterating the administration’s go-to—and false—trope that undocumented immigrants disproportionately commit crimes in the US. “It’s quite simple,” Leavitt said. “Obey the law, respect the law, and don’t obstruct federal immigration officials and law-enforcement officials when they are simply trying to remove public safety threats from our nation’s communities.” (In reality, research shows undocumented immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than US citizens.) The orders come just days after a federal judge blocked federal officials from carrying out a previous threat to withhold funding from 16 sanctuary jurisdictions.

Also on Monday, the White House debuted a set of lawn signs that appeared to highlight undocumented people who have been arrested since Trump’s return to power. The White House account on X posted a video of the signs set to Michael Bublé’s rendition of Nina Simone’s song “Feeling Good.” (A representative for Bublé—who is Canadian and has spoken out against Trump’s desire to annex the country as a 51st state—did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether Bublé has a statement on the video.)

The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump will direct the Justice Department to open civil-rights cases against jurisdictions that he believes favor undocumented immigrants over US citizens. The Journal reports that the executive order cites at least 25 states that have adopted laws that provide immigrants with lower in-state tuition rates at public universities than those available to U.S. citizens. It is not clear which executive order the directive will be part of.


Let's note something about the above.

Michael Buble is not an American citizen. 

But this is who the MAGA cretins rip off to glorify.


MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN -- MAGA -- has never been anything more than racism.


"Feeling Good"?  No one in the world would argue did the definitive version of that song.

It's American Nina Simone.





Nina Simone recorded "Feeling Good" for her 1965 album I Put a Spell on You. The song has also been covered by other famous artists, including American singer Sammy Davis Jr., English rock band Traffic, Canadian singer Michael Bublé, American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, American singer and actor Brian Stokes Mitchell, British singer George Michael, English pop singer Tony Hadley, American band Eels, American musician and singer Joe Bonamassa, Irish musician and singer Eden, English rock band Muse, British blues rock band Black Cat Bones, American DJ and electronic music producer Bassnectar, American singer and musician Sophie B. Hawkins, American rock musician Leslie West, Swedish DJ and music producer Avicii, American singer Chlöe, Palaver Strings & Kebra-Seyoun Charles, Victory, American rock music duo Sirsy (Melanie Krahmer), American rapper and singer Lauryn Hill, French DJ David Guetta, American singer Micah Dubitzky, and many others. It was also performed by American singer and pianist John Legend as part of the Celebrating America performance marking the inauguration of Joe Biden. 


It's Nina song to this day.  When it played in the last film in the QUIET PLACE franchise, Nina's version was when they went with.  Played in Bridget Fonda's POINT OF NO RETURN?  Nina's version.  Over and over, the world has responded to Nina's version.

And the supposed Make America Great goons, overlook Nina for a White Canadian man.  It's about racism.  

And, as Betty's been noting repeatedly this year, it's about Chump erasing Black people and their accomplishments:




In other news,  Charles Tiefer (TPM) notes:


The Trump White House this month announced two new executive orders radically changing procurement procedures, especially defense procurement procedures, in ways that will unleash waste, fraud and abuse. These orders — which largely flew under the radar — will effectively wipe out spending safeguards with potential effects that are hard to overstate considering that President Trump announced he will expand the defense budget to a breathtaking $1 trillion, and that the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, is no counterweight to politically driven spending.
To summarize, the new executive orders purport not merely to change or improve regulations, but to simply eliminate most of the existing procurement rules developed through years of oversight processes and outside scrutiny. They effectively undo procurement safeguards put in place after tremendous waste was exposed during the Cold War. In their place, the executive orders would elevate certain procedures that allow the government to spend unlimited sums without competition — the so-called “other transactions” process that need not be competed and that circumvents safeguards put in place to protect tax dollars. The Executive Orders say there should be a “first preference” for other transactions processes, which is like having a “first preference” for bringing a pistol with no safety to compete in a boxing match.

These revisions will also likely interfere with the system relied upon by competitors challenging improper awards, the “bid protest” system, which has long been a critical check on decisions made based on suspicious preferences rather than best value to the taxpayer. The orders proclaim that their goal is to “centralize decision-making,” which apparently means to move decisions on choosing weapon systems away from specialized, analytical government technical personnel steeped in the objective review of weapons choices so as to allow the decisions to be made by politically appointed officials attuned to politically favored contractors.


He is a danger to the entire country.  HIs stupidity puts us in all danger, his corruption puts us in danger, his inability to hire skilled people puts us all in danger.

On the last one, Hegseth hits the fan again.




Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s cybersecurity is again under scrutiny following a report from the New York Times that he used his personal cellphone for sports betting and highly sensitive military communications.

The Pentagon leader reportedly used his personal cellphone to create two Signal group chats about planned U.S. attacks on Houthis in Yemen. One included his wife and brother — neither of whom had security clearance — and the other accidentally included a reporter from the Atlantic.
Former FBI special agent and CIA officer Tracy Walder told NewsNation Hegseth’s communication practices are “very serious.”

“When you are sending that specific of information, like F-18 flight plans, targeting information, I would have been fired at the CIA if that is how I shared information,” Walder said. “FBI as well, because I held a security clearance there. So, that’s a fireable offense.”

The report said Hegseth’s personal phone number was found on betting sites, WhatsApp and Airbnb, as recently as March.

Cybersecurity experts have warned Hegseth’s phone was likely a prime target for spyware like Pegasus, given the public availability of his number and his position at the top of the Defense Department.

“This is why we don’t communicate classified information through those channels,” Walder said.




Colin Carroll, a former Pentagon official who was fired amid leaks at the Defense Department, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was focused on “weird details” after the Signal group chat scandal was exposed.

Carroll joined “The Megyn Kelly Show” on Saturday, where he shared more about his experience working in the Pentagon and witnessing firsthand a “tale of two Petes.”
“Do you think he’s OK?” Host Megyn Kelly questioned about Hegseth.

“I honestly, I don’t know. I’m not sure,” Carroll replied.

Carroll began telling a story about how once, when House Freedom Caucus members visited the Pentagon, Hegseth was sharp and performed well during the budget-related discussion.

“The secretary crushed that meeting. I have never seen a meeting like that. There’s not a secretary in living memory that could have done as good a job with those guys,” Carroll said.

“At the same time, I’ve seen the secretary in more internal meetings where he is super focused on, like, very, in my opinion, weird details and very agitated and kind of yelling and just, nothing’s good,” Carroll later said.

Carroll, the former chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve A. Feinberg, noted he didn’t know Hegseth before he took his administration position.


Some BLUESKY reaction on Hegseth:



 





Turning to MAGA, MAGA liars are liars who love to play the victim.  They'll even lie to the press to make themselves look like a bigger victim.




If you love stupidity, you really need to know about Natalie Beisner.  On Saturday, she went to West Hollywood and elsewhere with alleged rapist Matt Gaetz as the two tried to find Chumpers.  For those who don't know, West Hollywood is Gay Town for LA.   Whiteys felt comfortable going there but you wouldn't catch their asses in Oakland and it's worth noting that reality since Natalie -- a very lousy actress -- insists she left the Democrats in 2020 due to charges of White privilege.  She does not have that, she insists.  Despite the fact that she's had a few acting jobs -- none that were big or memorable -- and she can't act.  Not even a little.  But she had looks that are considered attractive.  (She's already aging out of them.  On White woman, the first to go is usually the chin and it's starting to slide and the skin around it to pucker.)  She left because, in 2020, while she was 'following' the rules (she wasn't, she didn't get the vaccine), it was okay to protest with Black Lives Matter but not to go about this or that daily activity.

Let that register for a moment.

It's a dumb ass MAGA talking point.

They whine that they were following the rules and they don't like the rules.

Then why aren't you applauding BLM for bringing them down?  

That wasn't a Democratic Party action.  In terms of White people, there were some Democrats participating.  There were a lot of Socialists and anarchists participating.  Mainly, it was Black people standing up and saying no more.  

So why are you a cry baby about that Natalie?  You wanted the social distancing to end and, thanks to BLM, it did.  If you weren't such a racist, you'd be on your knees thanking BLM for achieving what you, in all your weakness, couldn't.


She also likes to whine about Granny.  The one she claims died in 2020.  Claims?  We'll come back to that.  But Granny died alone, alone, alone!  

Oh, the horror.  2020 was so horrible for her!  Those damn Democrats!

That's why she left the party.

Anybody see problems with her lies?

Joe Biden wasn't president in 2020.

Donald Chump was.  It's under Chump that the country had social distancing and other protocols.  Natalie's granny was dead long before Joe became president.

Are you starting to get how stupid Natalie is?


How about this?  BLM protests took place outside in the open air.  All along the COVID concern, like the influenza at the start of the first century, was mainly an enclosed area concern.  If you didn't know that, you didn't do the work required.  Ava and I did.  We ended up covering COVID early on.  In the one last century, for example, Boston hospitals realized the importance of the open air to prevent spreading.  

I am sympathetic to Natalie in one regard: The messaging was confusing.  I think Joe should have fired Faucci.  Faucci could never admit a mistake but constantly changed direction and directives.

That doesn't help with public safety.  You need to be able to say, "We continue to learn and based upon the latest findings, we now know . . ."  That was confusing.  To everyone, not just simpletons like Natalie.  

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES reported Monday on Natalie bizarre hook up with Matt Gaetz and noted, "Actress Natalie Beisner, who voted for Hillary Clinton and Obama, said the pandemic shutdowns made her rethink her political views. Beisner said that due to the shutdowns, she lost two jobs and her grandmother died alone, while at the same time, protesters prompted by the death of George Floyd could gather en mass. When she raised such concerns, Beisner said she was called racist and selfish."

Do they do any fact checking at LAT anymore?  

I ask because they say her granny died alone due to the shutdowns.

That's really something that sounds like a lie.

Probably because it is.

Women don't get a great deal of attention in this society, even when they get attention.  Kathy Bates' MATLOCK's a great show but it's not just older women that are erased and ignored.  As a feminist, I don't ignore women.  So I didn't get introduced to Natalie today.  No, I remember when she got an award for writing.  For writing about her grandmother dying.  "Woman Home."  That's what she titled her scribbles and the title didn't make sense to me but, at any rate, she's writing about a grandmother dying.  In 2020, she's writing about it.  And it has nothing to do with COVID and her mother's present and she's present in her grandmother's room.

In this June 7, 2020 interview, she's discussing her bad essay and how she writes -- or, rather, how she types.


Now many people have two sets of grandparents.  So maybe the essay, in 2020, is about one grandmother dying and the she ended up with another dying?  

Problem with that?  She taped a 'walk away' from the Democratic Party story and posted it online. "My Journey Away From The Democratic Party" is what she entitled it.  The video is long.  Seven seconds shy of ten minutes. She mentions every real and every imagined grievance she has with the Democratic Party -- and lot of insisting that she's not a racist.  You know what she doesn't mention in that nearly ten minute video?

A dead grandma.

But she trots out the story for LAT.  I guess, if she's not lying, her dead grandmother has left her with grief -- a kind of intermittent grief that comes and goes.  For instance, when taping her own ten minute video about how awful things were during COVID 'thanks to the Democrats' (again, Chump was in the White House in 2020), she forgets to mention the death of her grandmother?  I guess there's only so much a person can cover in ten minutes and grandma wasn't important enough to make the highlight reel.

Priorities. 

Last year, she did several segments on The Dinesh D'Souza Podcast talking about her 'walking away' from the Democratic Party and, guess what, she never mentioned grandma dying during COVID and being all alone at the time.  She apparently felt THE LOS ANGELES TIMES needed her to save this story, for five years, so that they would have an exclusive.

Either that or she's a liar.  



Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

42 lawmakers write to RFK Jr. demanding answers on Trump admin’s actions undermining Head Start as Trump reportedly plans to eliminate the program

Washington, D.C. — Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, led a letter to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calling out the Trump administration’s direct attacks on Head Start, reminding him of his legal obligation to administer the program, and demanding the Department of Health and Human Services immediately release Head Start funding and reverse the mass firing of Head Start staff and gutting of the offices that help ensure high-quality services are available for thousands of children and families across the country.

“We write to express our strong opposition to the actions you have taken to directly attack and undermine the federal Head Start program. Since day one, this Administration has taken unacceptable actions to withhold and delay funding, fire Head Start staff, and gut high-quality services for children. Already this year, this Administration has withheld almost $1 billion in federal grant funding from Head Start programs, a 37 percent decrease compared to the amount of funding awarded during the same period last year,” write the lawmakers. “It is abundantly clear that these actions are part of a broader effort to ultimately eliminate the program altogether, as the Administration reportedly plans to do in its fiscal year 2026 budget proposal.”

The lawmakers detail how the program plays an instrumental role in supporting kids and families across the country, writing: “Head Start provides early childhood education and comprehensive health and social services to nearly 800,000 young children every year in communities across this country, and employs about 250,000 dedicated staff. Head Start is a critical source of child care for working families, particularly in rural and Tribal communities, where Head Start programs are often the only option for high-quality child care services. Head Start programs ensure children receive appropriate health and dental care, nutrition support, and referrals to other critical services for parents, such as job training, adult education, nutrition services, and housing support.”

“You even acknowledged the value of Head Start following a recent visit to a Virginia Head Start center,” the lawmakers write, contrasting that statement of support with the Trump administration’s actions. “However, as a result of your actions to withhold and delay funding and undermine the administration of this vital program, Head Start centers are in serious jeopardy and have already had their day to day operations impacted. Programs are increasingly worried that they will not be able to make payroll, pay rent, and remain open to serve the hundreds of thousands of children and families who depend on their services in communities across the nation.”

“Since the very start of this Administration, Head Start programs have been under attack,” the lawmakers write, detailing office closures and funds that were frozen for Head Start grants across the country. “At one point, the National Head Start Association reported 37 programs serving nearly 15,000 children across the country could not access their federal funding. Head Start programs operate with thin margins and on short-term budgets from HHS, and without any communication from the Administration about the status of funding, programs were forced to temporarily close or to lay off staff.”

The lawmakers underscore how the gutting of Head Start offices and the firing of staff who keep the federal program running puts the entire program in jeopardy: “On April 1st, you abruptly closed five of the ten regional offices that help local grantees administer Head Start programs in 22 states . This left hundreds of programs without dedicated points of contact to address mission critical issues like approving grant renewals and modifications, investigating child health and safety incidents, and providing training and technical assistance to ensure high-quality services for children. While some grantees were assigned a new program specialist, we understand many have not been receiving responses to their inquiries. This is on top of the estimated 97 Office of Head Start central office staff that were terminated due to their probationary status and the recent reduction in force. You promised ‘radical transparency’ as Secretary, yet it is unclear how these actions will improve Head Start programs, and you and your staff refuse to respond to basic inquiries and requests for information.”

Importantly, they note that without funding that has so far not gone out the door, many more programs could be forced to close.

“Head Start grantees are still waiting on payments and grant renewals from the Office of Head Start, including programs whose grants end on April 30th, 2025. These notices should have gone out by now, yet we are concerned to hear programs report they have received little to no correspondence regarding their grant renewals,” the lawmakers continue to detail how local Head Start programs are receiving no notice for the path forward for grant funding. “Additionally, because we started fiscal year 2025 under a short-term continuing resolution, as is usual, some grantees have only received partial funding for the first few months of the year. But with a full year funding bill in place, these grantees should have received full funding by now, yet some are reporting that they have not received the full amount of their grants and will run out of funds this month or next. On Wednesday, April 16th, the delays in Head Start funding led to the closure of Head Start centers serving more than 400 children in Sunnyside, Washington.”

“The Administration has a legal and moral obligation to disburse Head Start funds to programs and to uphold the program’s promise to provide high-quality early education services to low income children and families across this country,” the lawmakers write. “There is no justifiable reason for the delay in funding we have seen over the last two months, and you have refused to offer any kind of explanation.”

The lawmakers conclude by warning that eliminating the program would be devastating, demanding answers on the administration’s actions, and demanding the reversal of them: “[W]e urge you to immediately reinstate fired staff across all Offices of Head Start, and cease all actions to delay the awarding and disbursement of funding to Head Start programs across this country.”

In addition to Senators Murray, Sanders, and Baldwin, the letter was signed by 39 colleagues, including Jack Reed (D-RI), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Peter Welch (D-VT), Gary Peters (D-MI), Michael F. Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Tina Smith (D-MN), John Fetterman (D-PA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Christopher A. Coons (D-DE), Christopher S. Murphy (D-CT), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-OR), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Edward Markey (D-MA), Angus King (I-ME), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), and Mark R. Warner (D-VA).

Full text of the letter is available HERE and below:

Dear Secretary Kennedy:

We write to express our strong opposition to the actions you have taken to directly attack and undermine the federal Head Start program. Since day one, this Administration has taken unacceptable actions to withhold and delay funding, fire Head Start staff, and gut high-quality services for children. Already this year, this Administration has withheld almost $1 billion in federal grant funding from Head Start programs, a 37 percent decrease compared to the amount of funding awarded during the same period last year. It is abundantly clear that these actions are part of a broader effort to ultimately eliminate the program altogether, as the Administration reportedly plans to do in its fiscal year 2026 budget proposal.

Head Start provides early childhood education and comprehensive health and social services to nearly 800,000 young children every year in communities across this country, and employs about 250,000 dedicated staff. Head Start is a critical source of child care for working families, particularly in rural and Tribal communities, where Head Start programs are often the only option for high-quality child care services. Head Start programs ensure children receive appropriate health and dental care, nutrition support, and referrals to other critical services for parents, such as job training, adult education, nutrition services, and housing support.

You even acknowledged the value of Head Start following a recent visit to a Virginia Head Start center, where you said, “I had a very inspiring tour. I saw a devoted staff and a lot of happy children. They are getting the kind of education and socialization they need, and they are also getting a couple of meals a day.”

However, as a result of your actions to withhold and delay funding and undermine the administration of this vital program, Head Start centers are in serious jeopardy and have already had their day to day operations impacted. Programs are increasingly worried that they will not be able to make payroll, pay rent, and remain open to serve the hundreds of thousands of children and families who depend on their services in communities across the nation.

Since the very start of this Administration, Head Start programs have been under attack. On January 27th, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo (M-25-13) that suddenly froze the disbursement of grant funding for federal programs and services government-wide, including Head Start. Despite the Administration’s clarification that Head Start programs would not be the target of the funding freeze, many Head Start programs across the country were unable to draw down their grant funds through the Payment Management System (PMS) for weeks. At one point, the National Head Start Association reported 37 programs serving nearly 15,000 children across the country could not access their federal funding. Head Start programs operate with thin margins and on short-term budgets from HHS, and without any communication from the Administration about the status of funding, programs were forced to temporarily close or to lay off staff. In Wisconsin, the National Centers for Learning Excellence, which serves more than 200 children and their families, shut down for a week and laid off staff due to the funding freeze.

On April 1st, you abruptly closed five of the ten regional offices that help local grantees administer Head Start programs in 22 states. This left hundreds of programs without dedicated points of contact to address mission critical issues like approving grant renewals and modifications, investigating child health and safety incidents, and providing training and technical assistance to ensure high-quality services for children. While some grantees were assigned a new program specialist, we understand many have not been receiving responses to their inquiries. This is on top of the estimated 97 Office of Head Start central office staff that were terminated due to their probationary status and the recent reduction in force. You promised “radical transparency” as Secretary, yet it is unclear how these actions will improve Head Start programs, and you and your staff refuse to respond to basic inquiries and requests for information.

On March 14th, 2025, the Office of Head Start (OHS) notified all Head Start programs that “the use of federal funding for any training and technical assistance or other program expenditures that promote or take part in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives” will not be approved and that any questions should be directed to regional offices. Programs have not received any guidance for what would be considered “DEI” but this policy is potentially in direct conflict with statutory and regulatory program requirements, such as providing culturally and linguistically appropriate instructional services for English learners. Many programs cannot direct questions to regional staff, as half of regional offices were abruptly closed, and as unprecedented actions are being taken to delay and withhold funding, Head Start programs have been intentionally left with little to no guidance.

Head Start programs are now arbitrarily required to provide justifications for each draw down of funds that is necessary to operate their programs, despite already receiving a federal grant award for these purposes. As of April 14th, Head Start programs have reportedly received correspondence from an email address “defendthespend@hhs.gov” requiring programs to submit a “specific description of why the funds are necessary and why they are aligned to the award” before programs can have funding disbursed. It has been reported that political appointees must sign off on every draw down of funds. This creates an illusion of improving oversight but only serves to add unnecessary red tape by requiring the manual sign off on hundreds of thousands of individual actions annually across the Department based on two to three sentence justifications. Already some grantees have reported delays in receiving funds, and have reported that furloughs or closures are imminent if funds are not released. For an administration that purports to value local autonomy and efficiency in federally funded programs, your actions have achieved the exact opposite.

Finally, Head Start grantees are still waiting on payments and grant renewals from the Office of Head Start, including programs whose grants end on April 30th, 2025. These notices should have gone out by now, yet we are concerned to hear programs report they have received little to no correspondence regarding their grant renewals. Additionally, because we started fiscal year 2025 under a short-term continuing resolution, as is usual, some grantees have only received partial funding for the first few months of the year. But with a full year funding bill in place, these grantees should have received full funding by now, yet some are reporting that they have not received the full amount of their grants and will run out of funds this month or next. On Wednesday, April 16th, the delays in Head Start funding led to the closure of Head Start centers serving more than 400 children in Sunnyside, Washington.

The Administration has a legal and moral obligation to disburse Head Start funds to programs and to uphold the program’s promise to provide high-quality early education services to low income children and families across this country. The fiscal year 2025 appropriations act provided $12.3 billion for Head Start, the same as the fiscal year 2024 level. The Head Start Act includes an explicit formula for how appropriated funds should be allocated. There is no justifiable reason for the delay in funding we have seen over the last two months, and you have refused to offer any kind of explanation. However, this week leaked fiscal year 2026 budget documents indicated the Office of Management and Budget was directing the Department, consistent with the Administration’s proposal to eliminate Head Start in fiscal year 2026, to “ensure to the extent allowable FY2025 funds are available to close out the program.” If this explains any of the delay in awarding fiscal year 2025 funding, we want to be clear, no funds were provided in fiscal year 2025 to “close out the program,” and it would be wholly unacceptable and likely illegal if the Department tries to carry out this directive.

Finally, the leaked budget documents provided a justification, albeit brief, for eliminating Head Start in fiscal year 2026 that makes this Administration’s priorities clear and puts the Department’s actions over the last several months in context. The Administration argues that eliminating Head Start, “is consistent with the Administration’s goals of returning education to the States and increasing parental choice.” It is shocking to see an argument that eliminating a program that provides comprehensive early childhood care and education to 800,000 children and their families would increase parental choice. It is particularly concerning to see that argument in the context of the significant delay in awarding fiscal year 2025 appropriated funds and what that indicates about the intent behind the Department’s actions. We believe it is obvious that eliminating Head Start would be detrimental to hundreds of thousands of children and families. Similarly, we believe it is obvious that delaying funding like we have seen over the last two months, forcing Head Start programs to close, and leaving families to scramble to find quality, affordable alternatives puts the education and well-being of some of the most vulnerable young children in America at risk. In our view, that is unacceptable.

Therefore, we urge you to immediately reinstate fired staff across all Offices of Head Start, and cease all actions to delay the awarding and disbursement of funding to Head Start programs across this country.

Please provide us with a written response to the questions below no later than 10 days from receipt:

1. Will you reinstate the staff who administer Head Start programs and reopen the closed regional offices responsible for overseeing Head Start programs in 22 states?

a) When is HHS going to share information on the reorganization plan for the consolidation of the regional offices?

b) Please provide the contact information for each program specialist designated to the 22 states who lost their regional office.

c) Who is responsible for ensuring there are no delays or lapses in funding, nor any disruptions to Head Start program operations now that these states do not have a regional office?

2. How many employees at the Offices of Head Start have been terminated, including the five regional offices and the central office?

a) Which officials at HHS were involved in the staffing reduction decisions for OHS and what planning, if any, was undertaken prior to these reductions? Please describe the events that unfolded and name each office that was involved in the decision. Further, please name the official(s) who approved the staffing reductions.

3. Can you confirm that the Administration will distribute all Head Start funds appropriated by Congress to Head Start programs in FY 25, as required by the Head Start Act?

4. Please provide a list of all grantees with 5-year Head Start grant renewals that start between now and the end of the fiscal year: May 1st, June 1st, July 1st, August 1st, and September 1st.

a) Will any funding be delayed for grantees that are due to receive their annual funding on May 1st or beyond?

5. Why are funding awards delayed for grantees that received partial awards during the first continuing resolution for FY25?

a) When can HHS guarantee that all funds will be awarded for partially funded Head Start programs?

6. What is the “Tier 2” department for review that is delaying drawn down for Head Start programs in the Payment Management System?

a) When should programs expect to receive their funds?

b) Please provide all communication that went to Head Start grantees on the new review process.

7. What guidance and clarifications have been provided to Head Start grantees on DEI expenditures?

a) How is HHS evaluating Head Start programs’ expenditures and grant awards for DEI?

b) What justifications are being used to prohibit DEI?

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