ICYMI: Senator Murray, Rep. Scott Reintroduce Child Care for Working Families Act to Tackle Child Care Crisis and Get Families the Child Care & Pre-K They Need – MORE HERE
(Washington, D.C.) – On Thursday, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and U.S. Representative Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA-03), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, reintroduced their Child Care for Working Families Act—comprehensive legislation to tackle the child care crisis and ensure families across America can find and afford the high-quality child care they need.
The legislation—led by Senators Murray, Casey, Kaine, Hirono, and 35 additional cosponsors in the Senate and by Representatives Scott, Wild, and 43 additional cosponsors in the House—would tackle the child care crisis head-on: ensuring families can afford the child care they need, expanding access to more high-quality options, stabilizing the child care sector, and helping ensure child care workers taking care of our nation’s kids are paid livable wages. The legislation would also dramatically expand access to pre-K, and support full-day, full-year Head Start programs and increased wages for Head Start workers.
Under the legislation, the typical family making the median income in America would pay no more than $10 a day for child care—with many families paying nothing at all—and no eligible family would pay more than 7% of their income on child care.
Here’s what leading child care and early education champions have had to say about the legislation:
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and CEO at MomsRising:
“America’s moms applaud the Child Care for Working Families Act and urge Congress to pass it right away. Families, providers, businesses and our economy would benefit greatly from the bold, comprehensive investment in child care this legislation would make. The pandemic exacerbated our nation’s child care crisis and we need solutions. By lowering or eliminating costs for families, addressing the dire shortage of providers, and investing in the professionals who care for and teach our youngest learners, this bill would strengthen the child care sector and help moms stay in the workforce. We thank Sen. Murray and Rep. Scott for championing it.”
Miriam Calderón, Chief Policy Officer at ZERO TO THREE:
“We are grateful to Senator Murray and Representatives Scott and Wild for their steadfast leadership on the Child Care for Working Families Act. Their colleagues must demand that congressional leadership advance this critical legislation while there is still time to save the nation’s child care system.
“The system is at the brink, and this bill is our best hope to save it. Babies need safe, nurturing environments to grow and learn, yet that type of care costs more than college. A market-based system that depends mostly on parents’ ability to pay has left most providers not earning a living wage and struggling to meet quality standards. The nation’s economy can’t work without parents, and parents can’t work and thrive without quality child care they can afford.”
Michelle Kang, CEO of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC):
“As we hear from early childhood educators and families in communities across the country, the child care crisis isn’t new—but the shape of the crisis has changed, and the policies needed to solve the crisis have changed with it. NAEYC is proud to support the Child Care for Working Families Act in the 118th Congress, which outlines responsive, comprehensive strategies that increase the supply, quality, and affordability of child care by prioritizing investments that lower costs for families and raise wages for educators. We encourage all members of Congress to come together in support of this legislation and to work together to value and fund early childhood education as the public good that it is.”
Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC):
“We applaud Senator Murray for taking a critical step to make high-quality, affordable child care a reality for millions with the reintroduction of the Child Care for Working Families Act. Child care is the backbone of our economy but it is treated as a luxury, leaving families to struggle to find and afford care and early educators—nearly all women and disproportionately women of color—scraping by on poverty-level wages. By passing this legislation, Congress can ensure families and children have the necessary tools to thrive and move us one step closer to treating child care as a public necessity that is core to our country’s prosperity.”
Julie Kashen, Director of Women’s Economic Justice and Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation:
“All children deserve the opportunity to be cared for in settings that allow them to thrive. The Child Care for Working Families Act would make child care and early education affordable so that any parent—no matter where they live or what they look like—would have great care options for their children. The bill would give parents the freedom to make a good living while having the peace of mind that their children are safe and nurtured in great care options.”
Dorian Warren, Co-President Community Change Action:
“Everyone agrees that our country is in a severe child care crisis. Every time we sit on our hands, we lose billions of dollars in the economy, make it hard for childcare providers to stay in jobs they love, and potentially set women in the workforce back decades. With the Child Care for Working Families Act, Senator Murray and Representative Scott have offered a comprehensive federal intervention with broad support from childcare providers, parents, and employers across the country. It’s long past time for Congress to act and pass this important legislation.”
Indivar Dutta-Gupta, President and Executive Director of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP):
“Child care has long been unaffordable and inaccessible for many families. At the same time, child care providers are paid low wages and rarely offered the benefits and support they need. This child care crisis plaguing our nation’s economy places the heaviest burden on children, families, and providers—especially those from Black, immigrant, and other communities of color who have been historically excluded and disproportionately harmed. Bold public investment is essential to meeting our nation’s child care needs. The Child Care for Working Families Act will go a long way to address these inequities, building on previous iterations of the bill to ensure that children in all states have access to needed care by introducing a new BASE grant provision that will help increase provider pay and improve access for families. CLASP commends Senator Murray for her persistent and strong leadership for children and families and calls on Congress to make the Child Care for Working Families Act a reality.”
Liz Shuler, President of the AFL-CIO:
“Working families deserve accessible, affordable and quality child care, and the Child Care for Working Families Act is how we can make that a reality for so many who desperately need it. It will enable parents to remain in the workforce, and ensure that those who dedicate their lives to care for and educate our children are paid a living wage. We urge Congress to pass this bill so we can strengthen working families and safeguard the future of our economy.”
Sarah Rittling, Executive Director of the First Five Years Fund:
“For too many families, quality child care options are completely out of reach. This bill has long been a blueprint in how we might address the enormity of the issues facing children, families and providers. We are grateful for the unwavering leadership of Senator Murray and Congressman Scott for continuing to prioritize making child care more affordable and accessible, and helping grow the supply of child care choices that American families so desperately need.”
Margaret Mitchell, CEO of YWCA USA:
“When the COVID-19 pandemic paralyzed the nation, YWCA refused to close our doors. We ensured that families had a clean, healthy space to turn to and children had continuity in their care, development, and education. Today, as we work in our communities to return to pre-pandemic service levels, we are still feeling and seeing firsthand what our families and teachers need to survive: robust, long-term investments that reduce costs for working families and that enable providers to retain skilled child care and early learning educators. We are grateful for the reintroduction of the Child Care for Working Families Act, which takes critical steps to stabilize the child care sector and to ensure equitable access to this essential element of economic security. YWCA urges Congress to pass it without delay.”
The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC):
“Family child care educators, alongside all early educators, have worked tirelessly to enable the families in their community to work and learn. The Child Care for Working Families Act would provide many early educators with the dignity, support, and compensation their contributions deserve. The National Association for Family Child Care is grateful to Senator Patty Murray for her plan to make critical investments in our nation’s child care system.”
Jesse O’Connell, Senior Vice President for Education at the Center for American Progress:
“The Child Care for Working Families Act makes important strides toward increasing the availability of child care, reducing costs for families, and ensuring child care workers are fairly compensated for the important work of guiding children through the most important years of their development.”
Jessica Sager, CEO of All Our Kin:
“We appreciate Sen. Murray’s dogged determination to put families first. In addressing equitable access to child care, quality of care and sustainability, this Act would put us on the road to ensuring working parents get the child care they need. We encourage all members of Congress to pass and fully fund this legislation.”
Rebecca Rewald, Senior Gender Policy Advisor, Unpaid and Underpaid Care Work, at Oxfam America:
“In order to build a more equitable and prosperous economy, it is crucial that we create an affordable and accessible child care system that pays child care workers and early learning educators fairly. The Child Care for Working Families Act will help support working families and reduce inequality in the US by strengthening our care economy and advancing economic, racial, and gender justice.”
Roy Chrobocinski, Managing Director of Domestic Policy at Save the Children:
“Save the Children is delighted to endorse the reintroduced Child Care for Working Families Act. Every child deserves a strong start in life, and the Child Care for Working Families Act would help to make this possible by giving families access to high-quality, accessible, and affordable early education opportunities. Investing in child care is a smart investment, and one that enables parents’ work, provides a safe environment for kids in those crucial early years, and helps prepare children for kindergarten and beyond. We applaud Senator Murray and Congressman Scott for their commitment to making the early care and education system work better for children and their families.”
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