Update: This just in--the Senate has postponed the scheduled June 29 vote on reducing the estate tax.

In explaining his decision to give away most of his money through the Gates Foundation, Warren Buffett says his children have had more privileges and advantages than more than 99 percent of the rest of the children in America. His heirs don't need to inherit every last cent of his billions as well. Buffett says he hopes his gift will serve as a model for others.

Instead of budgeting for more child care subsidies needed by working families or expanding health care coverage, Congress is hard at work on a tax package that gives the wealthiest households the bulk of new tax cuts. House and Senate Republicans have worked out which tax cuts will be included in the tax reconciliation package, a process that is filibuster-proof in the Senate.

Congress returns to DC this week. First up will be more budget negotiations to try to get a budget blueprint that can pass the House. But many advocates for children and families argue that no budget blueprint is better than one that favors tax cuts over investing in improving schools, health care and access to college.

Instead of lifting more children out of poverty, the benefits of the current economic recovery (and the recent tax handouts) have flowed disproportionately to the wealthiest families, lifting the fortunes for those at the top but leaving more children behind in poverty. Bernstein and Greenberg say it doesn't have to be this way:

The plan for deep budget cuts appears to be breaking down party discipline in the House. Two weeks ago the Senate approved the Specter-Harkin amendment, restoring funds to current levels instead of steep cuts for health, education and other vital services.

The National PTA says the Senate vote to add more than $16 billion to President George W. Bush's fiscal year 2007 (FY07) budget request included more than $10 billion for programs under the purview of the Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education Appropriations Subcommittee. The "stunning" vote came last week, after several days of intense lobbying by education, child advocacy, and health organizations, as well as substantial grassroots mobilization, in support of an amendment introduced by Sens. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Tom Harkin of Iowa to increase discretionary funding in the FY07 budget resolution (S.Con.Res. 83).

Update note: The Senate approved the Specter-Harkin amendment on March 16, 73-27.

On Thursday, the Senate will vote on an amendment to increase funding for education and social service programs by $7 billion. The bipartisan amendment, led by Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA), could provide funding for after-school programs, mentoring, job training and a host of other important services for children, youth and families; failure to pass this amendment will likely result in cuts to many effective programs.

Right after World War II Congress created the National School Lunch Program as a “measure of national security.” It was a direct response to the fact that many of the young men responding to the World War II draft were rejected due to conditions arising from serious nutritional deficiencies.

Facing politically painful budget choices, House conservatives and Senate moderates are heading in different directions.

Determined to cut spending at all costs, House conservatives are demanding offsets for new hurricane recovery spending for the Gulf that is included in a $91.1 billion supplemental spending bill headed for the House floor Wednesday. They'll put Gulf recovery funds on the table for offsets but refuse to require tax expenditures to meet the same offset requirements.

Six years ago, Congress authorized the National Children's Study, an ambitious plan to follow 100,000 children from before birth to the age of 21. It's intended to provide high-quality longitudinal data on how environmental factors affect children's health and development, and to look at why conditions like asthma, autism, obesity, and childhood cancers are on the rise.