Kaine Statement on Biden Administration’s New Steps to Make Child and Long-Term Care More Accessible, Affordable

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine—a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee—released the following statement regarding the Executive Order President Biden signed to make child and long-term care more accessible and affordable:

“Parents are being locked out of the workforce because they can’t affordable child care. Critical workers who are passionate about child and long-term care are being forced to leave their field because they can’t pay their bills. It’s clear from my conversations with Virginians across the Commonwealth that our care system is in crisis, and our workers, families, and economies are paying the price. Today’s announcement is an important step in the right direction, but more work remains to be done. I will continue to push for the passage of my legislation to support our direct care workforce and family caregivers, and my proposal to lower costs for families, triple federal child care funding for Virginia, expand child care supply, and raise wages for child care workers.”

Earlier this year, Kaine and U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) led the introduction of their legislation to expand access to home and community-based services (HCBS) for older adults, people with disabilities, and injured workers, as well as increase pay and improve benefits for caregivers who provide this life-sustaining care.

Kaine is one of Congress’ leading voices for improving child care access and affordability. In December, Kaine helped pass a federal budget for 2023 that provides $8 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program, which funds financial assistance to help low-income families access child care. This is $1.85 billion more than Fiscal Year 2022, representing a 30 percent increase in funding for the program. Last year, Virginia received more than $120 million through the CCDBG program.

Increasing funding for the CCDBG program is also a core tenant of a child care and early child hood education proposal that’s been led by Kaine alongside his colleague Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) to expand the supply of quality child care facilities, increase child care and Head Start teacher wages, and lower child care costs for families across the country. According to the Center for Law and Social Policy, Kaine and Murray’s plan could help more than 1 million new children and their families receive child care assistance to lower their costs. For more information about the plan and the Center for Law and Social Policy’s analysis, click here.

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