[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 386 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 386

     Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the 
 availability of high-quality child care for working parents should be 
                               increased.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2015

  Ms. Bonamici (for herself, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Scott of 
    Virginia, Ms. Matsui, Ms. Frankel of Florida, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. 
 Schakowsky, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Nadler, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Gallego, Mrs. 
 Watson Coleman, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Mr. Pocan, Mrs. Lawrence, 
 Mr. Ted Lieu of California, Ms. Hahn, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Honda, Ms. 
Roybal-Allard, Ms. Norton, Ms. Brown of Florida, Ms. Lee, Mr. McGovern, 
 Ms. Edwards, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, and Ms. Titus) submitted 
   the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                      Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
     Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the 
 availability of high-quality child care for working parents should be 
                               increased.

Whereas today's working parents depend on high-quality child care so they can 
        work and support their families, and over 60 percent of children under 
        5, and \1/2\ of grade school-aged children are in a regular child care 
        arrangement;
Whereas United States businesses lose $3,000,000,000 annually due to employee 
        absenteeism resulting from child care challenges, thereby weakening the 
        stable and reliable child care system that is essential for today's 
        economy;
Whereas child care is difficult to find for millions of families, particularly 
        the nearly 9,000,000 parents who work non-standard hours, when only 8 
        percent of child care centers provide evening or weekend care;
Whereas most middle-class families struggle to afford high-quality child care, 
        with the median aggregate cost of nearly $16,000 per year the for full-
        time care for an infant and a 4-year-old in a child care center;
Whereas the average annual cost of center-based child care for an infant is over 
        \1/2\ of the income of a family of 3 living at the poverty level in 21 
        States;
Whereas high-quality child care and early education, especially for 
        disadvantaged children, helps children thrive in school and beyond by 
        decreasing special education placement and reducing grade retention, by 
        decreasing child abuse and neglect and juvenile arrests, by increasing 
        high school graduation and college attendance, and by increasing 
        employment;
Whereas the eligibility requirements to receive assistance under the Child Care 
        and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (CCDGB), the primary source of 
        Federal funding support, exclude most American children from Federal 
        child care assistance;
Whereas the CCDBG still serves only a fraction of families eligible for Federal 
        support, with only 17 percent of eligible children receiving Federal 
        child care assistance--the lowest number since 1997;
Whereas these issues affect all families, but disproportionately affect women 
        since over 95 percent of the formal child care workforce is comprised of 
        women, and women also do most of the unpaid child care work in families;
Whereas increased pay for workers in the child care industry improves the 
        quality of child care for young children;
Whereas to recruit and retain a qualified child care workforce for young 
        children, child care staff for young children should be paid as much as 
        K-12 staff with equivalent education and experience;
Whereas a full-time living wage of at least $15 per hour is needed for all child 
        care workers to meet their families' essential needs, but the average 
        child care center worker earns $10.60 per hour and has experienced no 
        increase in real earnings since 1997;
Whereas high-quality child care that works for everyone is essential for a 
        strong economy and future, working families also need universal 
        preschool, child nutrition programs that promote health and wellness, 
        fair work schedules, living wages, paid family and medical leave, paid 
        sick days, and credit in the Social Security system for time spent 
        caregiving, to support their well-being; and
Whereas when families are guaranteed high-quality, flexible, available, and 
        affordable child care, business productivity improves, parents have a 
        greater likelihood of finding and keeping employment, and children do 
        better in school and in life: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives supports efforts--
            (1) to provide child care assistance to all working 
        families that need it, including middle class families who 
        struggle to afford the cost of high-quality child care and 
        underpaid families who are too often left behind;
            (2) to make child care affordable, with no working family 
        having to pay more than 10 percent of their income for child 
        care and with additional help to families most in need;
            (3) to ensure that child care is available so that parents 
        in today's 24-hour economy can access high-quality care when 
        and where they need it--during weekends, nights, as their job 
        schedules change--with options across school, center and home 
        settings;
            (4) to guarantee that all families eligible for child care 
        will receive it, by creating a system that expands with need;
            (5) to improve the quality of child care by guaranteeing 
        child care workers a living wage and wage parity with K-12 
        staff with equivalent education and experience, by improving 
        training opportunities, and by giving workers a voice on the 
        job to advocate for higher workplace standards and standards of 
        care for the children they serve; and
            (6) to provide sufficient Federal, State, and local 
        investment to ensure resources for both and high-quality jobs 
        and affordable child care.
                                 <all>