ICYMI: At Hearing, Warren Calls for Long-Term, Permanent Investments in Child Care to Support Working Families
Warren: “Are we going to be a nation that invests in our future and supports parents trying to find good, affordable care for their children, or a nation that keeps throwing tax breaks to the rich? Families are counting on us.”
Senator Warren and Chairman Wyden’s Building Child Care for a Better Future Act would add $6.5 billion in permanent, annual funding to improve child care supply, quality, and access.
Washington, D.C. — At a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance — the first hearing of the Committee on child care in 30 years — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Dr. Megan Pratt, assistant professor of practice at the Oregon State University College of Health, and Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, on investments in child care that would help families and the U.S. economy, including increasing the Child Care Entitlement to States (CCES) funding. Currently, the United States ranks 33rd out of the 37 richest nations on child care investments.
In response to Senator Warren’s questioning, Dr. Pratt identified low supply and inadequate federal funding as the key drivers of child care shortages. Dr. Pratt also confirmed that reliable, long-term funding is critical to ensure child care providers are able to keep their doors open, increase capacity and wages, and provide quality early education to children in communities across the country. When discussing whether to invest taxpayer dollars in child care or, as Congressional Republicans have proposed, further tax breaks for billionaires, Ms. Gross Graves agreed that billionaires do not need more tax cuts, but families definitely need more childcare. For every $1 invested in child care, $12 is made back by keeping parents in the workforce and jumpstarting children’s early education.
Senator Warren concluded by calling for passage of her Building Child Care for a Better Future Act, which would make long-term investments in child care supply, including boosting child care worker pay and supporting professional development with apprenticeships and in partnerships with unions.
Transcript: Examining the State of Child Care: How Federal Policy Solutions Can Support Families, Close Existing Gaps, and Strengthen Economic Growth
U.S. Senate Committee on Finance
July 9, 2024
Senator Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate your holding this long overdue hearing. There’s no better investment in our future than child care — to help mommas and daddies get to work, and to give our babies a strong start.
Right now, the U.S. ranks 33rd out of the 37 richest nations on Earth in child care investments. And a major reason is because every year, Congress decides how much child care funding to appropriate, and every year it is a fight with anti-government extremists who want to cut programs that help American families, while cutting taxes for rich people.
Meanwhile, there is a program in this committee’s jurisdiction called the Child Care Entitlement to States, or CCES, that provides some permanent funding outside the appropriations process that families can rely on. It is not nearly enough, which is why Chairman Wyden and I introduced our Building Child Care for a Better Future Act to expand CCES and make long-term investments in child care.
Now Dr. Pratt, you are an expert in early education and child care shortages. Why is the child care market so broken?
Megan Pratt, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Practice, College of Health, Oregon State University: Thank you, Senator Warren.
The child care system is primarily funded by parents. Parents shoulder the burden of funding the system. States including Oregon have contributed quite a bit to bolster the federal spending and it is just not enough. So there is not enough supply and families are really struggling to find it.
Senator Warren: Ok, so bottom line: we need more supply. But providers and their staff are living paycheck-to-paycheck, barely able to keep their doors open, much less add more slots and lower the fees that they charge to the families in their communities. An insurance premium increase, a rent hike, a few families pulling their kids out — any of these can push a provider over the edge and out of business.
So, Dr. Pratt, for that provider who is operating on the razor’s edge, what impact does reliable, long-term government funding have in terms of the investments that the child care provider can make and the services they can provide?
Dr. Pratt: It allows providers to plan ahead. It allows providers to think beyond the paycheck-to-paycheck on their end and month-to-month to even consider increasing wages to expand slots, perhaps reopen care for infants and toddlers that they may have had to close because it was too expensive.
Senator Warren: Ok, all right.
So, they can make better investments and more investments. Now, while other nations have invested in universal childcare, what did the United States do? We cut taxes for the wealthy and the well-connected.
The $2 trillion 2017 Republican tax cuts were just the latest giveaway, and now lobbyists are drooling over the possibility of trillions more in tax cuts next year when a big chunk of the 2017 laws expire.
Ms. Gross Graves, you are the president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center. You know a thing or two about smart investments in American families. As the Finance Committee considers where to put federal dollars, does it make sense to give more tax breaks to billionaires and billion-dollar corporations or to invest in child care?
Ms. Gross Graves: I don't think billionaires need more tax cuts, but families definitely need more child care. And in fact, having more child care available and accessible, that will help businesses for sure.
Senator Warren: So, when we think about just our economy overall, not just mommas and daddies, but everybody in our economy, we do better when we invest in our children.
You know, in fact research shows that for every one dollar we invest in childcare, we get $12 back by keeping parents in the workforce and jumpstarting the education of our workers of the future. And that is why I'm working with Chairman Wyden and other committee members to make long-term investments in child care supply, from boosting child care worker pay to supporting professional development with apprenticeships and in partnerships with unions.
The choice before this committee is clear. Are we going to be a nation that invests in our future and supports parents trying to find good, affordable care for their children and invest in the people who do the work of caring for our children, or are we going to be a nation that just keeps throwing tax breaks at billionaires? I think families are counting on us and that is where we need to make our investments.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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