John,

I wanted to make sure you saw Deborah’s earlier email.

The House will return this Tuesday in hopes of getting back to work. But our work advocating for low-income people and families never stops.

Our government narrowly avoided a shutdown on September 30th. And, while Congress and the White House have agreed to keep the government running for 45 days of flat, temporary funding, they did not include emergency funds to stabilize the child care industry. Meanwhile, right-wing extremists in Congress are causing chaos—and pushing for more cuts to child care and other programs.

We have a few short weeks to avert this blow to our economy and ensure parents and caregivers are not pushed out of the workforce. Otherwise, the impact will be felt for generations and will severely exacerbate income and racial inequity in this country.

Congress needs to get to work now, recognizing that keeping our government funded means meeting our emergency child care needs now.

Join us in sending a letter to Congress urging them to make critical investments in child care now.

Thank you for all you do,

Meredith Dodson
Senior Director of Public Policy, Coalition on Human Needs

-- DEBORAH'S EMAIL --

John,

When the House returns on Tuesday, the country will once again be subjected to the dysfunction of a party in disarray because of their own extremists. But even in the face of government obstruction, our responsibility to low-income people and families must not end.

On September 30th, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that helped to stabilize the child care industry expired. More than 70,000 child care centers could close, leaving 3.2 million children without child care. This will have a disproportionate impact on families in rural communities, families with low incomes, families headed by single parents, and communities of color.¹

As Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, clearly stated:

“There was a child care crisis even before the pandemic—and failing to extend these critical investments from the American Rescue Plan will push child care even further out of reach for millions of families and jeopardize our strong economic recovery. This is an urgent economic priority at every level: child care is what allows parents to go to work, businesses to hire workers, and it’s an investment in our kids’ futures. The child care industry holds up every sector of our economy—and Congress must act now.”

If Congress doesn’t move quickly to fully fund child care, things will only get worse for working parents. Send a direct message to Congress to invest in child care to support families and the child care workforce.

High-quality child care plays a crucial role in supporting children’s healthy development, learning, and school readiness, while also supporting parents’ ability to work, train, or pursue an education.

But while affordable child care has been in short supply for years, increased employment and recent gains in worker pay in other sectors have made it even harder for child care programs to retain staff and harder for families to afford the cost of care. The now-expired emergency funding helped stabilize child care. Advocates and child care providers have called for at least $16 billion a year to prevent this devastating decrease in supply.

Even before the additional funding ended, 1 in 5 women with children under 12 reported they lacked child care in the previous month. Nearly 7 out of 10 of these women experienced an economic cost—fewer work hours or a lost job.[2] A precipitous loss of child care will push parents out of work at a time when the economy needs workers. Increased child care funding is critical to ensure we continue on the road to economic recovery.

Child care providers have faced increased rent and food costs as well as the need to raise wages. When they are forced to close, families feel the economic impact. Those feeling it the most have low incomes, are disproportionately in rural areas, people of color, or have disabilities. Without adequate federal funding, we will not be able to close the widening gaps by income and race.

Congress must make emergency investments in child care to support children and working families. Click here to send a message to Congress to invest in families by increasing funding for child care.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ Child Care Cliff: 3.2 Million Children Likely to Lose Spots with End of Federal Funds
² National Women’s Law Center, High Shares of Women with Children Under 12 Lack Access to Child Care As the Child Care Funding Cliff Approaches