Press Releases
Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami
202-226-7616
05/22/2007
Pelosi Delivers Opening Remarks at National Summit on America’s Children
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered opening remarks this morning at the National Summit on America’s Children, held in the Cannon House Office Building. Below are her remarks as prepared:
“Welcome to the National Summit on America’s Children. Today is an historic day in which national experts and scientists are gathered to discuss our nation's most vital resource – our children.
“We are grateful to those who will offer testimony on how we can improve the lives of America's children and strengthen America’s families. We are joined by many who have made this mission their life’s work, and we are grateful for their continuous advocacy.
“Thank you George Miller, Rosa DeLauro, and Chaka Fattah, the three co-chairs of the summit, for your outstanding leadership. I also welcome the many Members of Congress who have made this summit a priority today.
“We have gathered today to begin what will be a long-term conversation, and to signal our deep commitment to caring for our children and creating a prosperous future for them and for our entire nation.
“When I was sworn in as Speaker, I did so surrounded by children, because they must be the center of our work here. But it is time to update our policies, recognizing the connections between neurons and neighborhoods and that children who grow up healthy and happy become contributing citizens as adults.
“Our job is to take the critical science we will be presented with today from the halls of academia to the homes of America’s families. We must match every aspect of our current policies on early learning, health and mental health, and family and income support against the wealth of information produced by our leading scientists and scholars.
“Great strides have been made in understanding how children’s brains are shaped and developed, how positive behaviors can be encouraged, and how investments in early childhood create success in later years. We must ensure that our policies match the latest research and that families are given what they need to take advantage of these scientific advances.
“We know that these investments in our children today pay off many-fold in later years. It makes good economic sense. It is also the right thing to do. Investing in our children early leads to their success, and prevents having to remediate problems later.
“Democrats will set a new direction for the next generation by prioritizing legislative initiatives that strengthen the future of America’s children. They include: reauthorizing Head Start, with a focus on Early Head Start for children three and under – Head Start has helped ensure some of our most vulnerable children become successful adults for more than 42 years, and Early Head Start is doing the same for infants and toddlers; improving early childhood workforce quality through the Higher Education reauthorization act; expanding SCHIP – 9 million children in America have no health insurance, even when we know that healthy kids do better in school and are better prepared for a bright future; and making housing affordable for families, because a good start in life begins with a place to call home.
“For too long, America’s children have come in last in the competition for government investments. For too long, we have allowed outdated ways of thinking to determine our policies regarding our children. And for too long, there has been not enough political will to make children our number one priority in our work here in Congress.
“I pledge to you today that those days are over. We take seriously our responsibility to America’s future – our children. As the brilliant author and activist Pearl S. Buck said: ‘If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all.’ Today, we commit to ensuring our children are given the tools they need to succeed.”