Palin cut $1.1 million from funding for teen moms in need Nick Langewis

Published: Tuesday September 2, 2008





Print This Email This The Washington Post revealed Tuesday that Alaska Governor and McCain vice presidential pick Sarah Palin, whose 17-year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant outside wedlock, earlier this year used a line-item veto to cut $1.1 million (22%) in funding which would have at least partially benefited teen moms in need.



"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family," Palin said in a statement. "We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi's privacy, as has always been the tradition of children of candidates."



Covenant House Alaska, the affected organization which serves to assist homeless and runaway youth, runs Passage House, a transitional living program with 24-hour support staff that provides housing, along with up to eighteen months of assistance in building parenting, money management and job skills, with aims to help teen parents prepare for the "real world."



"We work with parenting teens to help them become productive, successful, independent adults who create and provide a stable environment for themselves and their families," reads the Passage House webpage. "Our goal is to assist young mothers in developing skills such as healthy parenting, money management, priority setting, housing acquisition and social skills development."



"The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support," Gov. Palin told Eagle Forum Alaska in a 2006 questionnaire in an expression of support for "abstinence-only" sex education.



A copy of the April 2008 spending bill, as obtained by the Washington Post, can be viewed below.







