LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin read a story Thursday, about a hungry caterpillar that ate all it wanted and still turned into a beautiful butterfly, to a group of children in a Head Start program in southwest Little Rock.
But in comments that the first-term Republican made to program administrators shortly after, Griffin suggested that no such happy endings exist for an engorged federal budget.
He told them to brace for potential cuts to programs largely paid for with federal dollars such as Head Start, which prepares low-income children for school through education, health, nutrition and family support services.
“From a budget standpoint, I know that there has been a lot of uncertainty if you’ll get less money,” Griffin told University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences administrators who run the program that serves nearly 1,100 Pulaski County children aged 3-5. “I think that’s going to be the new normal for everybody in every part of the budget.”
Dr. Richard Jacobs, chairman of UAMS pediatrics department, which administers Head Start in Arkansas, told Griffin he understood the budget constraints. He said Head Start was striving to become more efficient.
“So that you can make a dollar go further. ... That’s not lost on us,” Jacobs said. “It’s not lost on anybody that it’s an opportunity to be more efficient. This really is an investment. We’re really wanting to create more productive citizens, not dependents.”
Griffin, whose mother has been a Head Start teacher, said he recognizes the value of reaching poor children early in life.
But fiscal constraints caused by the national debt can’t be ignored, he said.
“If we don’t get our debt mess under control, we’re not just going to have cuts, we’re going to have elimination of programs that we need,” Griffin said. “The $200 billion on debt interest? If you wonder where money is for Head Start or wherever, it’s being paid to the creditors of our debt.”
Already in his brief congressional career, Griffin said, he has voted to increase funding for Head Start and to cut it. He said he can’t make a decision on a budget vote based on a single program.
Asked whether he valued extending the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans over funding for programs such as Head Start, Griffin compared the current state of federal spending to an obsession such as gambling.
“What’s important to me is to force the federal government to get on a fiscally responsible path. Before anyone talks about taxing people more, particularly people that create jobs ... before I want to have that conversation, I think we need to demand credibility from the federal government on spending,” Griffin said. “To me, that’s like a gambler sitting at a slot machine and saying, ‘Idon’t have a gambling problem, I just don’t have enough money.’”
Griffin said he would vote against raising the U.S. government’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, expected to be reached in May, without a credible deficit-reduction plan. He said he was confident a plan would emerge in time to avoid a default.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 04/22/2011