Dear John,    Our worst fears have been confirmed. Despite promising for months that reconciliation would include significant support for child care, we hear that lawmakers are finally close to finalizing a deal - without a single penny for child care and working families.    These next few days are critical – we’re working with our advocacy partner, First Five Years Fund, to ask everyone to contact your senator today to tell them that significant money for child care must be put back into a reconciliation package. Federal pandemic relief dollars saved the child care system from complete freefall but that relief funding is set to run out in 2024. Without immediate Congressional action to provide additional investments, an already broken system is heading towards a massive funding cliff with devastating consequences for working families and child care providers.  That’s why 85 leading national organizations just sent a letter to Congress highlighting the urgent need to ensure the reconciliation package includes critical investments for child care.    Join them in this critical moment.   We know that the budget reconciliation package is the only viable opportunity to secure the funding required to achieve the crucial, commonsense improvements needed in our early learning system.    Congress MUST follow through on their commitment to working families by including child care funding in any reconciliation package.   Your senators need to hear that you expect them to ensure funding for child care is put back into a reconciliation package — before it's too late.

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