Carper, Coons, Blunt Rochester Push to Renew Expired Funding for Child Care
U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons and Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester are joining other colleagues in urging congressional leadership to renew expired funding for child care in any supplemental funding package. Funding the lawmakers passed in the American Rescue Plan Act that allowed millions of parents to afford child care and keep their jobs during the pandemic expired in September, but the child care crisis continues. Without this funding, many child care providers are struggling to continue to operate and serve families. The lawmakers’ letter to leadership comes after President Biden’s supplemental funding request to Congress included $16 billion to address the child care crisis, which many members called for in August.
Additional Information from the Letter:
“We write today to urge you to include robust funding for child care in any supplemental funding package considered by the Appropriations Committee. Child care is unaffordable and hard to find for working families, and child care providers across the country are struggling to stay afloat,” wrote the lawmakers.
“The child care workforce has been one of the slowest sectors to recover from the pandemic, and wages for this critical workforce remain unacceptably low, further fueling the shortage of available child care options for families,” the members continued. “Families and child care providers are feeling increasingly squeezed following the expiration of COVID-19 relief funding for child care, as child care providers scramble to fill the gap in resources previously filled by federal funds.”
The lawmakers wrote, “It is essential that as supplemental funding to meet emergency needs is considered, Congress take action to address the child care crisis. We have an urgent need to further stabilize an industry that has been long underfunded, and Congress must provide robust funding for this sector through a supplemental package.”
