U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., discusses his “Five Freedoms for America's Children” plan during a meeting at the Butler Eagle on Wednesday. “If we say we're the greatest country in the world, we should invest more in our kids,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., is pitching a five-point proposal to expand the child tax credit and programs for child care and early learning, school meals and child safety to reverse what he said is a lack of investment in children.

In a meeting Wednesday with the Butler Eagle, Casey, 59, discussed his “Five Freedoms for America's Children” plan that would require a number of bills to be fully enacted in the future.

He didn't put a price on the cost of putting his five-policy proposal into action, but said tax increases and changes, as well as improved tax collection, would raise about $1.7 trillion that could be used to carry out the policies.

The cost is expensive, he said, but the policies would improve the economy, lower health care costs, improve national security and train a skilled workforce.

“We haven't invested in our children in a substantial way,” Casey said.

Between 2000 and 2017, people with the highest income got $1.2 trillion in tax cuts, Casey said, adding that lower and middle class families are struggling more than ever to support their children.

Casey, who has served as a U.S. senator since 2007, is suggesting five ways to raise the money needed to put the policies in action. One is raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent from the current 21 percent to generate $700 billion. Others include increasing tax collection to get $500 billion in unpaid taxes, establishing a 15 percent corporate minimum tax to generate $400 billion, returning the top tax marginal rate for individuals to the pre-2018 amount of 39.6 percent to generate $90 billion and returning the estate tax to the pre-2017 amount to generate $80 billion.

Automatic insurance at birthThe first policy, dubbed “Freedom to be Healthy,” recommends automatic Medicaid eligibility for children without health insurance from birth through age 18.Casey called it an “insult to the country” that 4 million children do not have health insurance, despite the existence of Medicaid, the Childrens' Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and employer health plans.“We've got plenty of money to be able to invest in kids through an expansion of Medicaid,” Casey said.Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) led to an increase in the number of people with health insurance, he said.More than 700,000 Pennsylvania residents have health insurance due to the Medicaid expansion. Of the roughly 12,455 Butler County residents who obtained coverage last year, more than 7,000 got it through Medicaid expansion, according to Casey.

<b>Saving for their future</b>His “Freedom to be Economically Secure” policy recommends expanding the Child Tax Credit and creating savings accounts for children whose parents make less than $100,000 a year. The government would deposit $500 a year into the accounts and children can use the money to help pay for post-secondary education, buying a home or starting a business.“We want to make sure they have some savings when they reach their adult lives,” Casey said.Focus on early childhood learning and developmentThe “Freedom to Learn” policy proposes investing $7 billion to expand affordable child care and early learning programs, $18 billion annually to ensure that Head Start covers all eligible 3- to 5-year-old children and a substantial expansion of the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to help working families pay for child care.“We are underinvesting in Head Start and we know it works,” Casey said.High percentages of children — one in seven as of 2014 — who are eligible for Head Start, child care subsidies and other programs do not get it because the government says it doesn't have enough money to pay for the programs, Casey argued.“We should dramatically expand Head Start,” he said, adding that low-income families and families making $80,000 to $90,000 have difficulty affording child care.<b>More meals for hungry children</b>Casey's “Freedom from Hunger” policy would enhance the automatic certification of children for school meal programs, expand universal school lunch and breakfast programs and increase retroactive reimbursement of school meals for eligible children who were not initially certified for meals.He said students in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or who receive Medicaid should be automatically approved to receive school meals.“We're not saving any money by denying kids school meals — we're making the country less safe, less secure and less able to grow like we want it to,” Casey said.<b>Cutting down on crimes against children</b>The fifth policy, “Freedom to be Safe from Harm,” would invest $250 million per year in community-based child abuse prevention, $250 million a year for child protection services and another $250 million per year to state attorney general offices to prioritize investigation and prosecution of crimes against children.“I just think it's time America met its obligation to kids, and it's a big bold plan that's expensive, but it's also a mission worthy of a great country. If we say we're the greatest country in the world, we should invest more in our kids,” Casey said.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is pitching his “Five Freedoms for America's Children” plan to reverse what he said is a lack of investment in children. The cost is expensive, he said, but the policies would improve the economy, lower health care costs, improve national security and train a skilled workforce.