Chris Matthews:  The well-known Head Start program, the federal program that helps preschoolers from low-income families be ready to start schools faces a $406 million cut, which would kick 70,000 kids out of the program. And, headlines across the country describe how local communities are already being hurt by these cuts to Head Start funding. Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor of Florida has met with Head Start families hurt by sequester cuts and wants children’s programs to get the same attention that travel delays has gotten. Ron Herndon is chairman of the Head Start Association. Congresswoman, tell me about what you have discovered with constituents and what the sequester cuts have done to those kids in the pre-k stages of life.

Rep. Castor:  70,000, 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds across America will lose access to the preschool Head Start classroom. Head Start is intended for students who don’t have every advantage of life, to ensure they are ready for elementary school. It’s also important because it ensures their parents are ready to work. 70,000 students across America, 2,000 in the state of Florida alone because the Republicans refuse to replace the sequester or sit down with us to negotiate a balanced plan. 

Matthews:  Mr. Herndon, I remember … Barbara Bush and the Bush family was very big on Head Start years ago. It's not a left-wing program. It's very respected and cherished because it takes kids who normally would have a hard time in first grade catching up and this gives them a real and equal chance …

Ron Herndon:  That's absolutely true. And probably one of the saddest parts of the cuts is most people are aware that it will mean 70,000 children will not be able to participate in Head Start, but that also means that hundreds of thousands of nutritional meals that won’t be served, hundreds of thousands of dental follow-ups that won’t be made, hundreds of thousands of medical follow-ups that won't be made, literally, hundreds of thousands of home visits to parents to help them prepare for their children to do well in school that won't be made. That's probably the saddest part of all that we've snatched the rug out from under 70,000 of the most vulnerable children and families in this country. 

Matthews:  These kids will miss a step or two at age 6 and all through their school years, perhaps in some cases, they will never catch up.

Herndon:  Not only that, there's a great deal that Head Start has been credited with lowering the childhood mortality rate in the entire country because of the emphasis that we put on health care and dental care. It’s almost as if we have discovered the … vaccine and we said, guess what, 70,000 of you will not get the … vaccine. 

Matthews:  Let's go into the halls of Congress, Congresswoman, I'm not advising, I’m not a political consultant, I'm just a talker. But I've always wondered, why don't you go to the floor right now with a proposal like they did with the air traffic controllers and say how about an exception and force people like Boehner, who is not a bad person, to vote against it? Why don't you jam them with this the way the air traffic controller issue was raised?

Rep. Castor:  We did that very thing in the House Budget Committee with our Chairman Chris Van Hollen, we offered an amendment just on Head Start to replace the sequester when it came to these 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds. The Republicans said no. They said no unanimously, just like they did when we were talking about cancer researchers and medical innovation. Chris, they are not interested in real debt reduction. They just want these cuts, they want the sequester, but they are going to have to live with the fact that they are complicit in the … down of America and that 70,000 of our 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds are not going to have a “head start” in life. I was with parents and students last week in Tampa, I talked to one mother who said before Head Start her 3-year-old could not speak. After six months in Head Start, now that young boy can communicate. That means he's going to have a better chance at life. 

Matthews:  Mr. Herndon … are we going to get through this thing? You see the cutting edge to this thing. What is going to happen if this goes on?

Herndon :  Families who are already very vulnerable in this country are going to suffer even more. In our program it means that we close Head Start a week, two weeks earlier, we’ll start two weeks later. That means that speech therapy that should be available for the young child that the Congresswoman described will not occur and, again, the folks who are already suffering the most will be asked to suffer even more needlessly. So we certainly do hope that members of Congress can get together. We are aware Head Start has received bipartisan support in the past. We hope that common sense will prevail. And, yes, most Head Start parents are not flying on airplanes, but we certainly do think their children should be given just as much consideration as the folks who were standing in line. 

Matthews:  Mr. Herndon and U.S. Congresswoman Kathy Castor, thank you … We’re going to keep being the squeaky wheel on these programs that are affecting real people.

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