Child and senior advocates teamed up today to send a joint message to Governor Gregoire and other state lawmakers: Keep Washington’s values at the core of the budget debate.  

The Seattle Times published an Op-Ed co-authored by Paola Maranan, executive director of the Children’s Alliance, and Ingrid McDonald, advocacy director of AARP Washington. They write:

Right now Congress has the once-every-five-year opportunity to improve the quality of school, child-care and summer meals and make them available to more children.

The Seattle Times ran an oped by Linda Stone, senior food policy coordinator at the Children's Alliance, calling on Congress to listen to the call that President Obama and anti-hunger experts have made to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act with an increase of $1 billion per year over 10 years.

On Friday, July 2, three initiative campaigns turned in voter signatures in hopes of qualifying for the November ballot. State officials will determine whether the initiative campaigns have enough valid voter signatures to meet the requirement.

One of these initiatives is I-1107, which would slash state revenues raised from new taxes on pop, candy, gum and other non-essential items. I-1107 is mainly funded by the American Beverage Association, which has given almost $2.5 million to the campaign.