Statement from AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler on the introduction of the Child Care Stabilization Act in Congress:
As the deadline to continue critical pandemic-era funding for our nation’s crumbling child care system quickly approaches, working families are in desperate need of a lifeline. Today, we are calling on lawmakers in Congress to provide necessary funding by passing the Child Care Stabilization Act, introduced in the Senate by Sens. Patty Murray and Bernie Sanders and in the House by Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Katherine Clark.
We are on the brink of a full-blown crisis as the combination of the “child care cliff” and the underinvestment of resources will leave millions of working families with few or no options for quality child care. It is projected that without sufficient funding, more than 3 million children will lose access to care and thousands of providers will be forced to close their doors, layoff child care workers or reduce the number of available slots. The burden of this crisis will disproportionately fall on working mothers whose labor force participation only recently stabilized, and it will exacerbate child care shortages that communities of color, low-income families, families raising children with disabilities and workers in rural areas already face.
The Child Care Stabilization Act will ensure that existing child care providers can remain open, and encourage new providers to open and protect local economies and communities by enabling working people to remain in the workforce. This is a national emergency and rather than continue to postpone solving this issue, we demand politicians in Washington do their jobs now.
Contact: Danielle Noel, 202-637-5018