WASHINGTON - Congressman Adam H. Putnam (FL-12), a member of the Rules and Budget Committees, today praised the passage of H.R. 2123, the School Readiness Act of 2005 by the Committee on Education and Workforce. H.R. 2123 will now head to the floor of the House of Representatives for consideration.

“Head Start is an extremely popular and effective federal program that is currently at risk because it lacks basic financial controls to prevent fraud and abuse. Fortunately, Congress is finally taking action to fix the problem,” said Putnam.

H.R. 2123 includes provisions of a Putnam bill that provide would greater competition into the federal Head Start early childhood program and protect children and taxpayers against the abuse and mismanagement of federal Head Start funds.

“The Head Start program is a valuable resource that has a long tradition of delivering comprehensive and high quality services for low-income children, that is why it is imperative that we ensure accountability for awarding grants to Head Start agencies,” said Putnam. 

Putnam introduced his bill, H.R. 778, the Head Start Accountability Act, on February 10, 2005. The legislation would ensure that the proper financial management of Head Start grantees is being met by streamlining the audit process, specifying oversight board compilation, and calling for the automatic recompetition for agency designation every five years, regardless of performance.

“I am delighted that the bill that was passed out of the full committee included my changes,” Putnam stated. “This is the right thing to do for poor children, taxpayers, and law-abiding Head Start operators.”

“It is imperative that accountability measures are drawn and abided by in order to reign in waste, fraud and abuse.  But most importantly, we need to ensure that these low-income children are given every opportunity to be ready to learn,” concluded Putnam. “This is the first step in restoring accountability to delivery of social services to some of our most vulnerable citizens.”

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