Press Releases

Gallego, Colleagues Demand Answers on Unlawful Head Start Funding Delays Worsened by Shutdown

Earlier This Year, GAO Found That Trump Administration Illegally Withheld Head Start Funds WASHINGTON – Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined 21 Senate colleagues in a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought demanding answers regarding delays in disbursing Head Start funds, which the Government Accountability Office found violated the Impoundment Control Act.   In the letter, the senators highlight how these delays, worsened by the government shutdown, forced programs to reduce services, temporarily close classrooms, lay off staff, and left thousands of children and families without critical early learning and family support. Further,

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Gallego Supports Bills to Protect Servicemembers and Veterans from Deportation

WASHINGTON – Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a Marine combat Veteran and member of the Senate Veterans Affairs committee, supported a package of bills that would prohibit the deportation of immigrant veterans who are not violent offenders, provide these veterans with a pathway to citizenship through their military service and help ensure they can access the VA healthcare services they are entitled to.   “I fought in Iraq, and I know that on the battlefield, what matters isn’t whether you have the right papers, it’s whether you’re willing to put on the uniform and risk your life for this country. If you’re willing to do

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Gallego, Kelly, Ciscomani, Ansari, Stanton Urge HHS Administrator to Ensure Arizona Receives Full Funding Through the Rural Health Transformation Program

WASHINGTON — Arizona Senators Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, along with Representatives Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ-06), Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ-03), and Greg Stanton (D-AZ-04) urged Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz to make sure Arizona receives its fair share of funding under the new Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) to address long-standing health care challenges in rural communities across the state. Arizona is one of the most rural states in the country, with a population density averaging eight people per square mile. Seven of Arizona’s fifteen counties are classified as 100 percent rural, and every county contains census tracts that meet the federal definition of rural. The lawmakers stressed

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