Video: Blumenthal, Murphy & DeLauro Join Colleagues in Reintroducing Child Care for Working Families Act

[HARTFORD, CT] – Today, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) and U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) joined their colleagues in reintroducing the Child Care for Working Families Act, comprehensive legislation to ensure families across America can find and afford the high-quality child care they need.

“Today, we face a child care crisis in Connecticut. It’s the crisis of unaffordability that blocks parents from going to work and blocks children from having the kind of preparation they need to do well in life,” said Blumenthal at a press conference announcing the legislation on Friday. “We don’t need tax cuts for billionaires — these tax cuts suck revenue away from child care. The Child Care for Working Families Act is an idea whose time is overdue and we will be fighting for it in this session of Congress.”

“High-quality childcare should be affordable and easy to access for every family. But instead of helping people get these important services, Donald Trump and Republicans have made life harder for working people by throwing millions off their health care and made life easier for the country’s richest people by giving them giant tax cuts. This bill offers real solutions: it makes childcare affordable for families, it gives childcare workers a living wage, and it helps working people in this country—not billionaires,” said Murphy.

“The American people are facing a cost of living crisis, and President Trump is making it worse. By cutting support for families, health care, and education, President Trump has made high quality childcare into a luxury that is out of reach for too many families,” said DeLauro. “This bill will make childcare affordable again, give workers a living wage in order to reduce turnover and keep childcare providers stable, and give working families the breathing room they need. I will continue to fight for legislation like this that tackles the cost of living crisis and invests in families, not billionaires.”

As the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress choose to spend trillions on new tax cuts for billionaires and the biggest corporations, kick Americans off their health care, cut kids off from nutrition assistance, and raise costs on everyday essentials for working families, Democrats continue their push to help working people make ends meet—including by tackling the child care crisis. The average cost of child care in Connecticut is nearly $16,000 per child every year.

The Trump Administration has gutted oversight of and support for the federal child care office, held up child care funding to states, held up Head Start funding, and now created massive holes in states’ budgets with cuts to Medicaid and SNAP—which may well force states to pare back on their own investments in child care. The quickly changing federal landscape is causing uncertainty for Connecticut families and providers, including the closure of the regional Head Start Program Office in Boston, delays in processing grant applications, and new restrictions on undocumented immigrants from accessing Head Start. A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the Trump Administration illegally withheld roughly $12 billion in Head Start funds to states and child care providers.

The Child Care for Working Families Act 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 will 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, which Murray and Scott have introduced every Congress since 2017, the typical family in America will pay no more than $15 a day for child care—with many families paying nothing at all—and no eligible family will pay more than 7% of their income on child care.

The Child Care for Working Families Act will:

• Make child care affordable for working families.
• The typical family earning the state median income will pay less than $15 a day for child care.
• No working family will pay more than seven percent of their income on child care.
• Families earning below 85% of state median income will pay nothing at all for child care.
• If a state does not choose to receive funding under this program, the Secretary can provide funds to localities, such as cities, counties, local governments, districts, or Head Start agencies.
• Improve the quality and supply of child care for all children and expand families’ child care options by:
• Addressing child care deserts by providing grants to help open new child care providers in underserved communities.
• Providing grants to cover start-up and licensing costs to help establish new providers.
• Increasing child care options for children who receive care during non-traditional hours.
• Supporting child care for children who are dual-language learners, children who are experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care.
• Support higher wages for child care workers.
• Child care workers would be paid a living wage and achieve parity with elementary school teachers who have similar credentials and experience.
• Child care subsidies would cover the cost of providing high-quality care.
• Dramatically expand access to high-quality pre-K.
• States would receive funding to establish and expand a mixed-delivery system of high-quality preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds.
• States must prioritize establishing and expanding universal local preschool programs within and across high-need communities.
• If a state does not choose to receive funding under this program, the Secretary can provide funds to localities, such as cities, counties, local governments, districts, or Head Start agencies.
• Better support Head Start programs by providing the funding necessary to offer full-day, full-year programming and increasing wages for Head Start workers.

In the U.S. Senate, the bill is led by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Angus King (D-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Lujan (D-MN), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (DMI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR).

In the U.S. House of Representatives, the bill is led by U.S. Representative Bobby Scott (VA-03) and cosponsored by 83 U.S. Representatives.

A fact sheet on the legislation is available here.

Text of the legislation is available here.

A video of Blumenthal’s press conference at Capitol Child Development Center in Hartford is available here.

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