SUPPORTING H.R. 7027, THE CHILD CARE IS ESSENTIAL ACT AND H.R. 7327, THE CHILD CARE FOR ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 134
(Extensions of Remarks - July 29, 2020)
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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E697-E698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPORTING H.R. 7027, THE CHILD CARE IS ESSENTIAL ACT AND H.R. 7327,
THE CHILD CARE FOR ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT
______
HON. ANNA G. ESHOO
of california
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7027, the Child
Care Is Essential Act and H.R. 7327, the Child Care for Economic
Recovery Act. Taken together, these bills make critical investments in
our nation's child care programs to meet the short and long term needs
of America's families which are so long overdue.
The next frontier is high quality, affordable, universal child care.
Without it, American workers and in particular women to whom child care
often falls, will not be able to reach their full economic potential.
In the short term, Americans will not be able to return to work and the
economy will not be able to reopen unless there are adequate, safe
child care options for parents. 13 percent of Americans report having
to reduce their work hours or leave their jobs because they don't have
access to child care during the pandemic.
Options for affordable child care are already scarce in many parts of
the country, if available at all, and child care providers operate on
very thin margins. This has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,
which threatens to permanently close thousands of child care providers,
resulting in a permanent loss of 4.5 million child care slots according
to the Center for American Progress.
Congress has sought to address the most immediate child care crises
created by the pandemic by providing over $4 billion for existing
federal programs that support the care and education of young children
and their families and expanded funding for child care providers to
meet payroll, benefits, rent and other expenses. The House-passed
HEROES Act provided an additional $7 billion for child care providers,
but this is a relatively small amount compared to the growing need for
stabilization of the child care sector as the pandemic rages on.
H.R. 7027 doubles down on the House's commitment to child care
providers by creating a $50 billion stabilization fund to be used for
grants to child care providers to pay for increased costs during
periods of low enrollment during the COVID-19 crisis and requires
employers to keep child care workers on payroll to ensure that these
providers will be able to reopen their doors once the pandemic ends.
Most importantly, this stabilization funding requires child care
providers operating during
[[Page E698]]
COVID-19 to meet strict health and safety guidance that ensures
American children are kept safe from the virus.
H.R. 7327 makes critical investments in the long term needs of child
care providers and expands the availability of high quality child care
in our country. It provides funding to states for existing child care
programs, invests in child care infrastructure, and fills in gaps in
child care for essential workers on the front lines of the COVID-19
pandemic. The bill also makes the Child and Dependent Care tax credit
fully refundable and creates new tax credits for employees and
employers to access child care.
Together, these bills will address one of our nation's enormous
challenges--access to high quality, affordable child care. I'm proud to
support both H.R. 7027 and H.R. 7327 and I urge my colleagues to vote
for them.
____________________