The 2021 Children’s Budget book, released on November 3rd, 2021, finds that COVID funding fueled the largest year-to-year increase in the share of federal spending on kids since tracking began in 2006.

The share of federal spending on children rose to 11.2% in 2021, a 3.5 percentage point increase over 2020. The historic increase comes after four straight years in which the share of spending on children declined by 25% to just 7.6%. 

“The pandemic and its economic fallout revealed decades of delayed maintenance on the systems that protect the health and well-being of our children,” said First Focus on Children President Bruce Lesley. “Massive investments in early childhood funding, income supports, education and food programs merely stabilized our kids. And yet, some in Congress are working to reverse even these gains.”

Watch the Children’s Budget Summit

On November 3rd, First Focus on Children will release our 15th annual Children’s Budget analysis just as Congress stands at a proverbial crossroads for our kids. For more than a decade, this report has documented mostly bad news, in which the share of federal spending for kids has sharply declined. But, as Congress grappled with how to respond to a country in crisis, they were compelled to make long-overdue investments this year in early childhood, child care, education, family medical leave, child nutrition, and health care. The question is: Will we return to the old, tragic, downward trend or live up to our promises to the next generation?

To help us answer that question, we invite you to join us for the Children’s Budget Summit — once again held virtually — where we will dig into this year’s report, which tracks federal spending in more than 200 domestic programs as well as our investments in children internationally. We will also hear directly from leaders in the Biden Administration, some of the top experts in the field, and a few Champions for Children who are fighting to ensure Congress invests in kids as we speak.

This year’s featured speakers will include:

  • Bruce Lesley, President, First Focus on Children
  • Secretary Xavier Becerra, Department of Health and Human Services
  • Senator Patty Murray
  • Senator Chris Van Hollen
  • Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro
  • Congresswoman Barbara Lee
  • Michele Sumilas, United States Agency for International Development
  • Dr. Aisha Nyandoro, CEO, Springboard to Opportunities
  • Dr. Lauren Jones, The Ohio State University
  • Monica Gonzales, Share Our Strength
  • Nell Menefee-Libby, 1,000 Days
  • Rachel Clement, ChildFund International
  • Andrew McNamee, InterAction