Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

If we can come together on family policy, so should Congress

If we can come together on family policy, so should Congress
man in long sleeve shirt standing beside girl in pink tank top washing hands
Photo by CDC on Unsplash

The issues facing families with young children in our country are numerous and well-known. It’s our politics that’s been the problem.

We know that the share of the federal budget devoted to children is relatively small and declining as a share of spending. Parents frequently want different arrangements for care and work than they can afford or negotiate, and parents’ jobs may not leave enough time or flexibility to care for young children. The share of people having children is declining, with many citing cost concerns. People with children are citing higher levels of pessimism about the future that awaits their kids. But our divided politics has gotten in the way of addressing these challenges. Or so it seemed.


Last year, the Convergence Collaborative on Supports for Working Families convened regularly, representing the most ideologically diverse group of family policy leaders in recent memory, akin to the Congressionally-created National Commission on Children in 1987. Our group included representatives from the far left to the far right and ideological positions in between. It included representatives from think tanks, physicians, childcare providers, the private sector, and more. Most of us are parents ourselves.

Our work together uncovered that there is much more in common than meets the eye and many reforms that could generate a broad base of political support, even in a polarized political environment. Our 2024 report, In This Together, put forward an action agenda for employers, philanthropy, communities, and state and federal governments.

This month, many of us sent a letter to Congress recommending five areas of cross-partisan action, including:

(1) Create abipartisan commission at the federal level to support children and families.

(2) Enact a stable, predictable child-related cash benefit that primarily benefits low-to-moderate-income families.

(3) Design a holistic strategy of care options for parents of young children that reflect differing parental preferences and meet children’s needs.

(4) Create a baseline of federal protection and support for parents with newborns  and newly adopted children.

(5) Improve federal fiscal responsibility and sustainability of benefits.

We are not alone in uncovering a broad consensus for family policy reform. Voters want it, too. In a new American Policy Ventures Post-Election Survey conducted by Echelon Insights, 83% of voters expressed support for a national program that would provide all employees access to paid family leave, and 79% of voters expressed support for providing childcare benefits to families with young children.

It’s over to Congress to listen.

Our partisan politics masks an underlying truth about children and families. We are in this together. How we nurture, care, and invest in America’s children today will shape our society tomorrow.


If you want to learn more, join us next week for the 2025 Policy Agenda for Family Flourishing event in Washington, DC!

Deep divisions make it increasingly difficult for Americans to work together to solve our biggest challenges. Since 2009, Convergence has been bringing together leaders, doers, citizens, and experts across ideological, political, and identity lines. Convergence drives solutions to critical challenges that would otherwise remain “stuck,” and the resulting societal impact improves lives.

Read More

Marines Sent to Los Angeles “Presents a Significant Logistical and Operational Challenge”

Protesters confront National Guard soldiers and police outside of a federal building as protests continue in Los Angeles following three days of clashes with police after a series of immigration raids on June 09, 2025, in Los Angeles, California.

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Marines Sent to Los Angeles “Presents a Significant Logistical and Operational Challenge”

LOS ANGELES, CA - An estimated 700 U.S. Marines are being mobilized from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, approximately 140 miles east of Los Angeles, to Camp Pendleton in San Diego County. This mobilization will position the troops closer to Los Angeles, where they may potentially work alongside National Guard units to protect federal resources and personnel, according to NBC News.

The latest figures from police, nearly 70 individuals were arrested over the weekend during protests. This total includes 29 people arrested on Saturday for failure to disperse and 21 individuals arrested on Sunday on charges ranging from attempted murder involving a Molotov cocktail to looting and failure to disperse, as reported by the LAPD.

Keep ReadingShow less
GOP Funding Bill Could Put CA Rural Health Centers, Hospitals at Risk

Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in California, makes up about 40% of revenue for Community Health Centers, which serve almost 32 million mostly low-income people nationwide.

Arlette/Adobe Stock

GOP Funding Bill Could Put CA Rural Health Centers, Hospitals at Risk

People who depend on Community Health Centers and rural hospitals could have trouble finding care if Medicaid cuts just approved by the U.S. House are signed into law.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated 8 million people nationwide could lose coverage over the next decade, including more than 3 million in California.

Lizette Escobedo, vice president of government relations and civic engagement at AltaMed Health Services in Los Angeles, said the costs to treat a flood of uninsured patients would overwhelm community clinics and small town hospitals.

"If this bill were to be implemented over the next 10 years, some federally qualified health centers and hospitals especially in the rural areas would probably have to close their doors," Escobedo projected.

Supporters of the bill said the savings are needed to fund other administration priorities, including President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts. The bill would also tighten work requirements for Medicaid coverage and force people to reapply every six months instead of annually. And it would slash tens of billions in federal funding to states like California allowing health coverage for undocumented people.

Joe Dunn, chief policy officer for the National Association of Community Health Centers, called the proposed cuts counterproductive, in terms of keeping people healthy and keeping costs down.

"Health centers actually save money in the long run, because it reduces utilization of emergency departments and other kind of higher-cost settings, like inpatient hospitalization," Dunn explained.

The bill is now in the U.S. Senate.

GOP Funding Bill Could Put CA Rural Health Centers, Hospitals at Risk was originally published by the Public News Service and is republished with permission.

Keep ReadingShow less
Selective Sympathy: America’s Racial Double Standard on South African Asylum

Unrecognizable person clinging to a fence deprived of freedom

Getty Images//Stock Photo

Selective Sympathy: America’s Racial Double Standard on South African Asylum

It's a peculiar feeling to see the United States, a nation built on the bones of the oppressed, suddenly rebrand itself as a sanctuary for the persecuted as long as those seeking refuge are white. The current executive branch of the American government has managed to weaponize the language of human rights for its own geopolitical and racial ends— that is, selective, self-serving, misguided, and immoral.

The Trump administration is sullying the name of America, with barely a fig leaf of evidence, by trumpeting allegations of "genocide" against white South Africans. The chorus rises from right-wing newsrooms to the halls of Congress, fueled by viral videos and the breathless retelling of farm attacks, stripped of historical context or statistical rigor. White South Africans are an endangered species, so told, and America must fling open its doors, granting not just asylum but a fast track to citizenship—no questions asked.

Keep ReadingShow less
Just the Facts: Who Holds the Cards: The United States or China in Tariff Negotiations
A golden trump head stands before stacks of money.
Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash

Just the Facts: Who Holds the Cards: The United States or China in Tariff Negotiations

The Fulcrum strives to approach news stories with an open mind and skepticism, striving to present our readers with a broad spectrum of viewpoints through diligent research and critical thinking. As best we can, remove personal bias from our reporting and seek a variety of perspectives in both our news gathering and selection of opinion pieces. However, before our readers can analyze varying viewpoints, they must have the facts.

What is the current status?

Keep ReadingShow less