Kaine and Bonamici Lead Colleagues in Pushing to Renew Expired Funding for Child Care

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), along with U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-1), Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20), Sara Jacobs (D-CA-51), and Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11) led a bicameral group of their colleagues in urging congressional leadership to renew expired funding for child care. Funding the lawmakers passed in the American Rescue Plan Act to allow parents to afford child care and keep their jobs during COVID expired in September. Many child care providers have struggled with how they’re going to continue to operate and serve families without this funding. The lawmakers’ letter follows a similar push by Kaine and Bonamici last November and President Biden’s supplemental funding request to Congress, which included $16 billion to address the child care crisis.

“We write today to reiterate our support for robust funding for child care in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 funding legislation and in any future supplemental funding package. Without additional investments by the federal government, child care will remain unaffordable and hard to find for working families, and child care providers will continue to struggle to stay afloat,” wrote the lawmakers.

“Despite consistent bipartisan support for increasing investments in federal child care assistance, funding for the child care system has not met the needs of American families. The challenges affecting access to child care are not new, and this shortage has been taking an exacting toll on our economy,” the members continued. “The broken child care market has resulted in an impossible tension between families, workers, and providers: child care providers cannot afford to run their businesses or pay adequate wages to their staff using revenue from parents alone, while child care costs are unaffordable and unsustainable for working families.”

The lawmakers wrote, “It is essential Congress again act in a bipartisan matter to expand and restore critical federal resources for affordable, high-quality child care. By securing robust funding for child care in both FY 2024 appropriations legislation and any future supplemental funding, we can meet the needs of families and employers.”

Kaine, a member of the Senate, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has been pushing to expand access to child care. He has introduced the Child Care Stabilization Act to expand vital child care funding to help providers keep their doors open. Kaine has introduced the Child Care for Working Families Act, legislation that would expand access to child care, raise wages for providers, and lower costs for families by ensuring no family pays more than 7% of their income on child care. He has also introduced bipartisan legislation to develop, administer, and evaluate early childhood education apprenticeships.

In addition to Kaine, Casey, Sanders, Smith, and Warren, the Senate letter is signed by U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

In addition to Reps. Bonamici, Castro, Jacobs, and Sherrill, the House letter was signed by 128 House Democrats, including U.S. Representatives Alma Adams (D-NC), Colin Allred (D-TX), Becca Balint (D-VT), Nanette Barragán (D-CA), Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Donald Beyer (D-VA), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Julia Brownley (D-CA), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), Cori Bush (D-MO), Yadira Caraveo, Salud Carbajal (D-CA), Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), André Carson (D-IN), Troy Carter (D-LA), Greg Casar (D-TX), Sean Casten (D-IL), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), Judy Chu (D-CA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Jose Luis Correa (D-CA), Angie Craig (D-MN), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Jason Crow (D-CO), Sharice Davids (D-KS), Danny Davis (D-IL), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Christopher Deluzio (D-PA), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Dwight Evans (D-PA), Bill Foster (D-IL), Valerie Foushee (D-NC), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), Daniel Goldman (D-NY), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Jahana Hayes (D-CT), James Himes (D-CT), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Val Hoyle (D-OR), Jeff Jackson (D-NC), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Henry “Hank” Johnson (D-GA), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), William Keating (D-MA), Robin Kelly (D-IL), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Daniel Kildee (D-MI), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ann Kuster (D-NH), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Summer Lee (D-PA), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM), Mike Levin (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Kathy Manning (D-NC), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Lucy McBath (D-GA), Jennifer McClellan (D-VA), Morgan McGarvey (D-KY), James McGovern (D-MA), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Kevin Mullin (D-CA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Joe Neguse (D-CO), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Chris Pappas (D-NH), Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ), Scott Peters (D-CA), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Stacey Plaskett (D-VI), Katie Porter (D-CA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Delia Ramirez (D-IL), Deborah Ross (D-NC), Gregoria Kilili Camacho Sablan (D-MP), Andrea Salinas (D-OR), Linda Sánchez (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Bradley Schneider (D-IL), David Scott (D-GA), Terri Sewell (D-AL), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Adam Smith (D-WA), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Emilia Sykes (D-OH), Mark Takano (D-CA), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Jill Tokuda (D-HI), Ritchie Torres (D-CA), Lori Trahan (D-MA), David Trone (D-MD), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Marc Veasey (D-TX), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Susan Wild (D-PA), Nikema Williams (D-GA), and Frederica Wilson (D-FL).

The letter is endorsed by All Our Kin; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy; Caring Across Generations; Center for American Progress; Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP); Child Care for Every Family Network; Children’s Institute; Coalition on Human Needs; Community Change Action; Council for a Strong America; Early Care & Education Consortium (ECEC); First Five California; First Focus Campaign for Children; House Democratic Women’s Caucus; Moms First; MomsRising; National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC); National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC); National Education Association (NEA); National Women’s Law Center (NWLC); Save the Children; Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Small Business Majority; YMCA USA; and ZERO TO THREE.

A copy of the Senate letter is available here. A copy of the House letter is available here.

Full text of the letter is available below:

We write today to reiterate our support for robust funding for child care in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 funding legislation and in any future supplemental funding package. Without additional investments by the federal government, child care will remain unaffordable and hard to find for working families, and child care providers will continue to struggle to stay afloat. President Biden and Democrats in Congress have consistently demonstrated our commitment to expanding access to affordable, quality child care. To underscore our support as you work to finalize FY 2024 appropriations legislation and continue negotiating future supplemental funding legislation, we once again urge you to protect and prioritize funding for child care.

Congress has taken important steps to protect the child care industry from collapse. The American Rescue Plan Act provided $15 billion in supplemental funding for the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and $24 billion to create the Child Care Stabilization grants. These vital stabilization grants helped more than 200,000 child care providers stay in business, saved an estimated 9.6 million child care slots, and maintained more than 1 million child care jobs.  On September 30, 2023, the majority of this vital funding expired.

Despite consistent bipartisan support for increasing investments in federal child care assistance, funding for the child care system has not met the needs of American families. The challenges affecting access to child care are not new, and this shortage has been taking an exacting toll on our economy. A report from ReadyNation shows that the lack of available, affordable child care costs the United States $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity, and tax revenue every year. The broken child care market has resulted in an impossible tension between families, workers, and providers: child care providers cannot afford to run their businesses or pay adequate wages to their staff using revenue from parents alone, while child care costs are unaffordable and unsustainable for working families. For years, the situation has been a nightmare for families, particularly for many families with low incomes, families of color, families seeking infant and toddler care, care for children with disabilities, and care during non-traditional hours. These costs are forcing parents out of the workforce.

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. As of December 2023, the child care industry was missing more than 30,400 workers compared to pre-pandemic levels.  The shortage and turnover of the child care workforce is directly attributable to the low wages that these workers are paid.  Inadequate compensation contributes to turnover in child care workers that is approximately 65 percent higher than in a typical job.  Caregiving underpins all other work: parents rely on care for their kids, which allows employers across the country to keep their doors open.

President Biden acknowledged this urgent issue by requesting significant funding for child care and early learning in his budget request for FY 2024  and his domestic supplemental appropriations request to Congress.  We also appreciate that you were able to provide a $700 million increase for CCDBG in the Senate’s proposed FY 2024 spending bill. However, without additional investments, costs will go up for families, child care providers will be forced to close, and people will have to choose between going to work or staying home to care for their kids. This is a crisis, however, that can be averted.

Because of continued bipartisan support, CCDBG received a 30 percent increase for a total of $8 billion in FY 2023. It is essential Congress again act in a bipartisan matter to expand and restore critical federal resources for affordable, high-quality child care. By securing robust funding for child care in both FY 2024 appropriations legislation and any future supplemental funding, we can meet the needs of families and employers. 

The child care stabilization relief funds and historic increases to annual child care funding provided much-needed lifelines to the child care industry, but it is crucial that, at minimum, we sustain that level of investment to secure this sector’s survival and prevent this emergency from worsening. Child care providers, employers, workers, children, and families need your help. We urge you to use every possible tool to provide a robust investment to address the growing child care crisis. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.  

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