Largely shut-out of the budget process, Democrats have chosen to push their agenda through press conferences, news releases and floor speeches.

Media briefings that highlight the impacts of the budget reductions to services and programs on families are fast becoming a weekly ritual for the minority.

On that note, Senate Democrats pressed anew for the restoration of cuts to childcare subsidy during a press briefing March 3. And the next day, they pushed for Gov. Jan. Brewer to call a special session to do so.

Sen. Leah Landrum Taylor, a Democrat from Phoenix, said 5,000 children will be impacted if the cuts are not restored. At the end of the fiscal year, that number could swell to 20,000 children, she said.

"Having these subsidies allows individuals to be able to work freely, to know that their children are in safe, as well as affordable daycare," Landrum Taylor said.

Gov. Jan Brewer has indicated plans to seek some $50 million in federal stimulus money for childcare, which might require restoring $25 million that was cut recently as part of a $90 million overall budget reduction to the Arizona Department of Economic Security.

Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said the federal aid will be used to restore those cuts for the remainder of this year and the next.

The Democrats who attended the press conference on March 3 commended Brewer's for recognizing the importance of having these funds restored.

Senate Democrats, who were scheduled to meet with Brewer's staff to discuss the child care subsidy, said they are anxious to access the federal dollars and to restore the program funding.

The way Democrats understand it, Brewer's office would have to apply for the federal money but it is the Legislature that would have to appropriate the money.

"We need to act here at the Legislature to get those dollars appropriated," said Sen. Linda Lopez, the minority whip.

Lopez said from what she has gathered, families would get a notice in the middle of this month, possibly on March 13, from DES telling them they have 10 days left to receive the subsidy.

Landrum Taylor said cutting child care subsidies for the "working poor makes it excruciatingly difficult for people to continue to provide for their families and pay for adequate childcare."

"Childcare is the single most common factor that either enhances the ability to work or prevents the ability to work," she added. "The situation is much worse for families who cannot continue to keep their children in safe child care, especially now that CPS (Child Protective Services) is so stretched."