Child care in America deserves a financial bailout. Without childcare, the nation can’t get back to work, schools can’t open again, and too many essential workers will be out of luck.
Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) offered a resolution on May 21 calling for the next pandemic related stimulus to include $25 billion of child care. On June 3 Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) introduced the Child Care is Essential Act worth $50 billion to rescue the child-care industry and Rep. Katherine Clark’s (D-Mass.) Child Care is Infrastructure Act introduced in mid-June proposed $10 billion to improve childcare facilities. Taken together these signal strong bipartisan, bicameral support to provide major help for America’s child-care providers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored our reliance on care workers and demonstrated the fragility of the childcare industry. Industry leaders predict that the pandemic might lead to the permanent loss of up to 4.5 million child care slots. A pandemic-induced bailout is just the first step to building a childcare system that our children need. More must be done once the industry is stabilized.
The New Deal orchestrated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the dark days of the Great Depression offers us one example for how we might build a stronger childcare system for the future.
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