[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 106 (Thursday, July 18, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1315]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E1315]]


          CHILD CARE CONSOLIDATION AND INVESTMENT ACT OF 1996

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 18, 1996

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Child Care 
Consolidation and Investment Act of 1996. I am pleased that my 
colleague, Senator Dodd, has introduced the companion to this bill in 
the Senate.
  The Child Care Consolidation and Investment Act of 1996 consolidates 
all the major child care programs, including the Child Care and 
Development Block Grant, into a seamless system of child care for 
working parents. It invests in child care by increasing funding for the 
Child Care and Development Block Grant. Funds are increased to $2.8 for 
fiscal year 1997, and each year thereafter. By fiscal year 2001, my 
bill provides $4.7 billion for child care.
  My bill creates a seamless web of support for families, all the way 
from welfare to work. Everyone is talking about welfare reform these 
days, and they should be. The current welfare system is broken. It's 
not working for the taxpayers and it's not working for the recipients. 
As cochair of the Democratic Congressional Task Force on Welfare 
Reform, I helped produce a proposal that reforms our ineffective 
welfare system by investing in education, training, and support 
services, including child care, to get families off welfare 
permanently.
  Now, the House of Representatives has passed a bill that purports to 
move people off of welfare. However, it fails to remove one of the 
biggest barriers that keep even trained individuals from work: lack of 
available, safe, affordable child care. The bill that I am introducing 
today removes that barrier by ensuring that children have a safe place 
to go while their parents get job training and move into jobs. This 
bill ensures that single, custodial parents of young children will not 
be required to undertake education, job training, job search or 
employment unless appropriate child care is made available.
  The Child Care Consolidation and Investment Act of 1996 doesn't stop 
there. It also directs States to reserve funds to carry out child care 
activities to support low-income working families, and before and after 
school care.
  There is no question that working families need more child care. But, 
it is not enough to fund more facilities. Children must have a safe, 
clean environment that is both stimulating and nurturing if they are 
going to grow into adults that this country can rely on.
  The Child Care Consolidation and Investment Act of 1996 expands 
access to affordable child care while improving the quality of child 
care. It does this by providing States with set-aside funds for quality 
improvements to child care. It also establishes a quality improvement 
incentive initiative that will make additional funds available to 
States that show progress in implementing innovative teacher training 
programs and improved child care quality standards, licensing, and 
monitoring procedures.
  Mr. Speaker, child care has traditionally been a bipartisan issue in 
the House of Representatives, so I hope that my colleagues from both 
sides of the aisle will join with me to ensure that no children in this 
country will be left alone, at home, in a car, or on the streets 
because their parents are doing their best to support their family. 
Let's move forward with welfare reform, but let's not leave our kids 
behind.

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