Diapers are necessary 'to keep children healthy and in daycare,' Rep. Rosa DeLauro says. Connecticut Dems want diaper aid

Gov. Dan Malloy is declaring Thursday “Diaper Need Awareness Day” in Connecticut as the state’s Democrats try to raise awareness of the cost and public health concerns of diapers.

The move is part of a campaign to push the federal government to provide free diapers for poor families and follows in the wake of a bill proposed by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) called the Diaper Investment and Aid to Promote Economic Recovery Act, reports the Hartford Courant.


“No family should have to choose between buying diapers for their child or buying groceries — but that is exactly what is happening today,” DeLauro said in a statement earlier this month. “Diapers are expensive, but necessary, to keep children healthy and in daycare, giving their parents the freedom they need to work.”

Traditionally, public assistance funds and food stamps have not been applicable to the purchase of diapers. DeLauro estimates that families pay about $100 a month to purchase diapers.

The DIAPER bill has received harsh criticism from conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, who called it “absurd,” suggesting that this sort of government effort would “indoctrinate babies.”

“My generation did not go to daycare, and we wore cloth diapers that were washed and reused. But I mean this is taking indoctrination to steps I never dreamed of. Indoctrinate babies early and often in daycare, and you get ’em in daycare by promising free diapers,” Limbaugh said last week. “I mean this gives a new meaning to the term pampering the poor. Just absurd.”

Unperturbed by Limbaugh’s opposition, however, activists will gather in New Haven on Thursday for a free panel discussion on diapers as a public health issue, reports the Hartford Courant.