[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 39 (Thursday, April 11, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2587-S2591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DODD (for himself, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. DeWine, 
        Mr. Breaux, Mr. Reed, and Mr. Rockefeller):
  S. 2117. A bill to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant 
Act of 1990 to reauthorize the Act, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. DODD. Madam President, I am pleased to join with my colleagues 
Senators Snowe, Jeffords, DeWine, Breaux, Reed, Rockefeller, and 
Collins. By joining together on this legislation, we are indicating a 
strong bipartisan consensus to invest in both improving the quality of 
child care and expanding assistance to low income working families.
  It is significant that we are joining together today not only in a 
bipartisan manner, but also as members of the

[[Page S2588]]

HELP and Finance Committees in recognition of the support and 
neccessity of child care assistance.
  Today we are introducing legislation to reauthorize the Child Care 
and Development Block Grant. We are calling this legislation the 
``Access to High Quality Child Care Act'', because it's about time that 
we put the focus on ``Development'' back into the Child Care and 
Development Block Grant. Children are 20 percent of our population, but 
100 percent of our future.
  Today, 78 percent of mothers with school-age children are working. 65 
percent of mothers with children under 6 are working. And, more than 
half of mothers with infants are working.
  Most parents are simply not home full-time anymore. Many would like 
to be. For those who are, I introduced legislation in the Senate to 
provide a tax credit for stay-at-home parents. Because they, too, 
deserve support in their efforts to raise their children.
  But most families don't have a choice. If the kids are going to eat, 
go to school, and have a roof over their heads, both parents must work. 
I don't know of any working parents who think that balancing work and 
family is easy. It's not.
  Since 1996, the number of families receiving child care assistance 
has grown dramatically to about 2 million children today. But, for as 
many children who receive assistance, available child care funds reach 
only one out of seven eligible children.
  Child care in too many communities is not affordable. And in too many 
more, it's not available, or, even worse, of dubious quality.
  About 14 million children under the age of 6 are in some type of 
child care arrangement every day. This includes about 6 million 
infants. The cost of care averages between $4,000 and $10,000 a year, 
more than the cost of tuition at any state university.
  Far too many of America's parents are left with far too little 
choice.
  Nearly 20 States currently have waiting lists for child care 
assistance. Every State has difficulty meeting child care needs. No 
state serves every eligible child.
  Now, I know that there are some who say that we don't need more money 
for child care, that during the last few years we have pumped billions 
more into child care. But, I think we have a responsibility to look at 
what has happened over the last few years as well.
  The welfare caseload dropped by 1.8 million families from 1996 to 
1999. The majority of welfare leavers are now employed in low wage 
jobs.
  The share of TANF families working or participating in work-related 
activities while receiving TANF has soared to nearly 900,000 in fiscal 
year 99.
  Between 1996 and 1999, the number of employed single mothers grew 
from 1.8 million to 2.7 million.
  According to the Congressional Research Service, there has been a 
marked increase in single mothers working, from 63.5 percent in 1996 to 
73 percent in 2001.
  But, let's face it. Most welfare leavers are leaving for low wage 
jobs. On average, they are making $7 or $8 an hour. They are working, 
but they are still struggling to get by. Many low wage parents move 
from one low wage job to another, but rarely to a high wage job. 
Therefore, even over time, these parents still need child care 
assistance to stay employed.
  I am very concerned that the Administration's welfare reauthorization 
plan, with no additional funds for child care, will result in States 
shifting assistance from the working poor to those on welfare. House 
Republicans joined with Secretary Thompson on Wednesday to announce the 
introduction of the President's welfare plan in the House. One change 
they made to address child care needs was to allow states additional 
flexibility to transfer 50 percent of TANF funds to child care instead 
of 30 percent under current law.
  Since States are already spending all of their TANF money and the 
Administration's welfare plan adds significant additional work 
requirements for TANF recipients, I just don't see what giving the 
States additional flexibility buys them in child care dollars. At best, 
it's robbing Peter to pay Paul, taking cash assistance payments away 
from welfare parents to pay for child care for working TANF parents. 
That makes no sense. So, instead of robbing assistance from the working 
poor to pay for child care assistance for welfare recipients, states 
would rob welfare assistance directly from the worst off who are not 
working to pay for child care for those on welfare who are working? 
What's the logic? How does this help anyone?
  We held two hearings on child care in March. At one hearing, a woman 
from Maine testified who earns about $18,000 a year, pays half her 
income in child care every week, but remains on a waiting list to 
receive assistance. In the meantime, she and her two year old sleep on 
her grandmother's couch because she can't afford a place of her own.
  At another hearing, a woman from Florida with $13,000 in earnings a 
year recently lost her child care assistance because in Florida 
families working their way off TANF have only 2 years of transitional 
child care. After that, they must join the waiting list of some 48,000 
children. Because she lost her child care assistance and the state 
waiting list is so long, this woman may have to return to welfare.
  I've heard some say the answer is flexibility, that if we give the 
States more flexibility, then they will step up to the plate. A more 
realistic prediction would be that if we give states the resources, 
they will step up to the plate.
  Let me tell you what flexibility without sufficient resources leads 
to: low eligibility levels, no outreach, low provider reimbursement 
rates, high co-pays, and waiting lists. Sound familiar? That's right. 
With the cost of child care today, even with additional resources 
provided over the last several years, too many of the states are forced 
to restrict access to low income working parents. Assistance that is 
provided often limits parents' choices.
  We can do better than this. Too often I hear about low income 
families stringing together whatever care they can find so that they 
can hold their jobs. For many this means Grandma one day, an aunt the 
next day, an uncle the following day, and then maybe the aunt's 
boyfriend.
  It's no wonder that 46 percent of kindergarten teachers report that 
half or more of their students are not ready for kindergarten.
  We need to look at these issues in an integrated manner. The 
education bill that the President recently signed will require schools 
to test every child every year from 3rd through 8th grade, and the 
results of those tests will be used to hold schools accountable.
  But, if we expect children to be on par by third grade, we need to 
look at how they start school. The learning gap doesn't begin in 
kindergarten, it is first noticed in kindergarten.
  If we are serious about education reform, we need to look at the 
child care settings children are in and figure out how to strengthen 
them. Seventy-five percent of children under 5 in working families are 
in some type of child care arrangement. Too often it is of poor 
quality.
  The bill we are introducing today is geared toward improving the 
quality of care to promote school readiness while expanding child care 
assistance to more working poor families.
  The Child Care and Development Block Grant is designed to give 
parents maximum choice among child care providers. In our bill, we 
retain parental choice, but provide States with a number of ways to 
help child care providers improve the quality of care that they 
provide.
  We set aside 5 percent of child care funds to promote workforce 
development, helping States to improve child care provider compensation 
and benefits, offer scholarships for training in early childhood 
development, initiate or maintain career ladders for childhood care 
professional development, foster partnerships with colleges and 
``resource & referral'', R&Rs, organizations to promote teacher 
training in the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development 
of children, including preliteracy and oral language so necessary for 
school readiness.
  We set aside 5 percent of child care funds to help States increase 
the reimbursement rate for child care providers to ensure that parents 
have real choices among quality providers. Under current law, child 
care payment rates are supposed to be sufficient ``to ensure equal 
access for eligible children to comparable child care services in the 
State or substate area that are provided to children whose parents are 
not

[[Page S2589]]

eligible to receive assistance''. But, low State reimbursement rates do 
not offer parents comparable care.
  The children of working parents need quality child care if they are 
to enter school ready to learn. Yet, 30 States require no training in 
early childhood development before a teacher walks into a child care 
classroom. Forty-two States require no training in early childhood 
development before a family day care provider opens her home to 
unrelated children.
  Our bill would require States to set training standards, just as they 
are required to do now for health and safety under current law. Such 
training would go beyond CPR and first aid to include training in the 
social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development of children.
  Relatives would be exempt, but through the quality funding in CCDBG, 
States could partner with colleges and R&Rs to provide training to 
relatives and informal caregivers on a voluntary basis. Initial 
evaluations in Connecticut of such efforts show that relatives and 
informal caregivers are voluntarily participating and are feeling 
better about themselves and their interactions with the children have 
improved.
  Leading studies have found that early investments in children can 
reduce the likelihood of being held back in school, reduce the need for 
special education, reduce the dropout rate of high school students, and 
reduce juvenile crime arrest rates.
  If we don't improve both the quality of child care that our children 
now spend so much time in and expand access to child care assistance to 
more of the working poor, we will be in danger of missing the boat on a 
whole generation of children.
  I think I speak for all of the cosponsors of this legislation that we 
hope to mark up child care in conjunction with the Finance Committee 
consideration of welfare reform.
  Ms. SNOWE. Madam President, I rise today to join my good friend and 
colleague Senator Dodd, in introducing the ``Access to High Quality 
Child Care Act of 2002.'' This legislation seeks to build upon 
Congress' efforts in 1996 to reform the Nation's welfare system and 
with it, overhaul the Nation's largest child care assistance program, 
the Child Care Development Block Grant.
  One of the most important tasks before Congress this session is the 
reauthorization of two critical public assistance laws, the landmark 
1996 welfare reform law, and the Child Care Development Block Grant. 
Together, these two programs, which are inextricably linked, comprise 
the backbone for our Nation's support infrastructure for working 
families.
  The 1996 welfare law reformed the entire nature of the welfare 
system, ending welfare as a way of life and making it instead a 
temporary program, providing a hand up instead of a hand out to 
families making the transition from welfare to work. The Child Care 
Development Block Grant, working with the welfare law, provides more 
than $4.8 billion for child care in 2002, giving assistance to those 
families that are in transition as well as those who have already 
successfully made it out of the welfare system, and helping them stay 
out of the welfare system by helping them meet the high cost of child 
care. The result is that since 1996, with more parents working, more 
children than ever before are receiving child care subsidy assistance.
  The key to the successful welfare reform, as witnessed by the 52 
percent decline in welfare caseloads since 1996, is the system of work 
supports that provides assistance to working parents to help them make 
ends meet while in low paying jobs, and sustain the family's successful 
transition from welfare to self sufficiency. And perhaps the most 
critical of all work supports is child care. Without access to quality 
child care, a parent is left with two choices, to leave their child in 
a unsafe, and often unsupervised situation, or to not work at all. 
Frankly, neither option is acceptable.
  This is the underlying philosophy behind the legislation we introduce 
today: to ensure that working parents have access to affordable, high 
quality child care.
  From the onset, our goal has been to reauthorize the Child Care 
Development Block Grant to ensure the working parents of America can 
continue their jobs with the peace of mind that their children are in a 
safe and quality child care situation, whether it is at a child care 
center, a relative's home, or in their own home.
  We do so by increasing the amount of funding set aside to raise the 
quality of care, giving states the ability to improve strengthen their 
child care workforce. States will have the option to choose how they 
will do so, but options include partnering with community colleges and 
Resource and Referral agencies to provide training in early childhood 
development to the workforce, or by simply increasing child care 
worker's wages. Astonishingly, the national average salary for a child 
care worker is between $15,000 and $16,000, and usually with few 
benefits. This legislation would give states even greater flexibility 
to decide how to improve quality using even greater resources.
  Additionally, our legislation simplifies and streamlines the use of 
federal welfare dollars for child care, whether it be spent directly on 
child care or whether it is transferred to the Child Care Development 
Block Grant, while holding these expenditures to the same health and 
safety standards as those under the CCDBG. As a member of the Senate 
Finance Committee, which has the jurisdiction over the welfare 
reauthorization, fixing what's wrong with the rules regarding the use 
of federal welfare funding for child care is a high priority of mine as 
welfare works its way through Committee consideration.
  Approximately 14 million children under the age of six are regularly 
in child care, corresponding with the fact that 65 percent of mothers 
with children under age six are in the workforce. Considering that the 
goal of welfare reform is to move people off the welfare rolls and onto 
payrolls, offering help with the cost of child care is one sure way to 
ensure that parents can work. Child care is expensive and often 
difficult to find. In some states, child care costs as much as four 
years in a public college. And that's even before considering the 
additional cost of caring for infants, or for odd hour care for those 
working nights or weekends, or care for children with special needs.
  And the fact is, we know child care pays off in encouraging more 
parents on welfare to find and keep a job. States have devoted 
significant funding to child care assistance, and have redirected the 
bulk of unspent federal welfare dollars under the Temporary Assistance 
for Needy Families block grant, TANF, and state Maintenance of Effort, 
MOE, dollars to child care assistance. In 2000 alone, states 
transferred $2.4 billion in TANF dollars to the Child Care and 
Development Block Grant, and spent an additional $1.5 billion in direct 
TANF dollars for child care. Why? Because they realize that child care 
assistance keeps parents working and that is the key to self 
sufficiency.
  However, since parents who are making the transition from welfare to 
work typically hold minimum wage jobs, those workers' ability to place 
their children in quality child care often stretches their families' 
budget to the limit. And while these families may no longer be in need 
of, or eligible for, cash assistance, without child care assistance, 
they may be forced back on the welfare rolls.
  The fact of the matter is, quality affordable child care remains 
difficult to afford for families nationwide. This reality was made 
clear last month, when a young woman from Maine, Sheila Merkinson, 
testified before Senator Dodd's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions 
Subcommittee, that the cost of her son's child care absorbs 48 percent 
of her weekly income, leaving her to provide for her family with only 
half of her $18,000 a year earnings. Sadly, Sheila's situation is not 
unique.
  Our legislation will help Sheila, and thousands like her, by 
improving the current child care delivery system, and increases the 
funding for the Child Care Development Fund to meet the needs 
established by the welfare work requirements. This link not only makes 
sense, it also is critical, responsible and essential for the future of 
our nation's children and families.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Madam President, I would like to thank Senators Dodd, 
Snowe, DeWine, Breaux, Reed, Rockefeller, and Collins for their hard 
work and dedication to helping provide

[[Page S2590]]

working families with access to high-quality child care, and I am proud 
to be an original co-sponsor of this important legislation. Senator 
Dodd and I have been working together on this and other critical issues 
affecting children for over twenty years now. And, I look forward to 
continue working with him and my esteemed colleagues as we move forward 
in helping children and families across the country.
  A recent Administration report reveals that as many as 75 percent of 
children under the age of five in this country are in some form of 
child care arrangement. And, as more mothers of young children enter 
the workforce, working families need even greater access to higher 
quality child care. In my State of Vermont, approximately 87 percent of 
Vermont children under the age of six live with two working parents, 
and only 56 percent of the estimated need for child care in Vermont is 
met through regulated care.
  The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that the quality of early 
child care and education has a significant effect on children's health 
and development and their readiness for school. According to a recent 
study, children participating in quality, comprehensive early care and 
education programs had a 29 percent higher rate of high school 
completion, a 41 percent reduction in special education placement, a 40 
percent reduction in the rate of grade retention, a 33 percent lower 
rate of juvenile arrest, and a 42 percent reduction in arrest for a 
violent offense.
  All other industrialized nations acknowledge the great value of early 
care and education, and make the care and education of toddlers and 
pre-schoolers a mandatory part of their public education system, and 
pay for it. Unfortunately, the United States does not.
  Quality child care is available in the United States to young 
parents, but in many cases, it costs more than ten thousand dollars per 
year. This is almost twice the cost of going to many public colleges.
  Earlier last week, the President proposed an initiative to strengthen 
early learning. He stated that he wants every child to enter school 
ready to learn. I am pleased that the President is making the care and 
education of our youngest children a priority. However, if we really 
want to help all children enter school ready to learn, then we need to 
actually provide the resources to do so. The costs of quality child 
care exceed what most working families can afford. Yet, unbelievably, 
the President has proposed NO additional funding to help families gain 
access to quality child care. This just doesn't make any sense.
  Many States across the country are working hard to improve the 
quality and accessibility of child care, but they simply do not have 
the resources to provide sufficient access and quality. For example, 
the State of Vermont spends approximately $33 million to provide 
working families with access to child care and to improve the quality 
of child care around the State. For a small State like Vermont, this is 
a lot of money, but is hardly sufficient to provide the type of access 
and quality necessary to make sure all kids enter school ready to 
learn. The State would need an additional $40 to $50 million to 
effectuate real change.
  And further, due to the recent economic downturn, a majority of the 
States has reported revenues well below expected levels. Accordingly, 
while the States want to do more to further the quality and 
accessibility of child care, many States will actually have less money 
to spend on helping families with quality care and education. Again, 
the President has proposed no additional funding to help States provide 
families with quality child care. On the contrary, we must 
significantly increase funding for child care to help States and local 
communities provide this vital support to working families and their 
children.
  I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of the new Access to High 
Quality Child Care Act of 2002.
  The 2002 ACCESS Act not only helps provide families with greater 
access to child care, but also significantly raises the bar on the 
quality of child care in this country. The 2002 ACCESS Act provides 
States with real resources to help them improve the quality of child 
care for working families. It allows for great flexibility, yet holds 
States accountable for making real quality improvements.
  Research shows that qualified and well-trained providers are critical 
to supporting and enhancing the cognitive and social development of 
children in child care. The 2002 ACCESS Act helps States strengthen the 
quality of the child care workforce by setting aside a dedicated 
portion of funds to support State initiatives that improve both the 
qualifications and the compensation of child care providers.
  The ACCESS Act also helps States increase child care provider 
reimbursement rates to more accurately reflect the true cost of care. 
It helps States provide training and technical assistance to informal 
and family child care providers as well as center-based providers. It 
helps States develop and expand resource and referral services. It 
helps families gain access to quality child care for infants and 
toddlers, and children with special needs. It provides oversight to 
child care centers situated on Federal property. And, the ACCESS Act 
also helps States leverage funding to provide technical assistance, and 
share in the cost of construction and improvement of child care 
facilities and equipment.
  I believe that we all recognize that the foundation for learning 
begins in the earliest years of life. However, a failure to nurture 
development in these early years is a lost opportunity forever. The 
2002 ACCESS Act provides States and local communities with a real 
opportunity to nurture that development and improve the quality of care 
for our youngest children in this country so that all of our children 
enter school ready to learn. I urge my colleagues to support this bold, 
yet critical initiative, so that indeed, every child truly has an 
opportunity to learn.
  Mr. DeWINE. Madam President, I rise today to join my colleagues, 
Senators SNOWE and DODD, in introducing the Access to High Quality 
Child Care Act, ACCESS. This legislation would reauthorize the Child 
Care and Development Block Grant through 2007 and rename it the ACCESS 
Act.
  We all know that our children are the most vulnerable members of our 
population and our most valuable resources. Today, 75 percent of 
children less than five years of age are in some kind of regular 
childcare arrangement. Parents need to feel confident that the people 
caring for their children are giving the love and support that children 
deserve. The bill we are introducing today would help give parents that 
kind of piece of mind.
  There are two pieces of the ACCESS Act that I would like to focus on 
because they are vital to improving the accessibility of high quality 
care. Last year, Senator Dodd and I introduced the Child Care 
Facilities Financing Act, which uses small investments to help leverage 
existing community resources. In my home State of Ohio, and throughout 
the country, resources for the development or enhancement of space are 
extremely scarce for childcare facilities. This leveraging approach has 
been successful in helping expand childcare capacity. Let me give you 
an example.
  Wonder World in Akron, OH, is an urban childcare center located in an 
old church. This facility was in dire need of repairs. The upstairs 
space was poorly lit and not well ventilated, and the downstairs was a 
damp basement. The childcare rooms had no windows and no direct access 
to bathrooms or a kitchen. There was no outdoor play space. This 
environment, itself, had a negative effect on the children, no matter 
how dedicated the caregivers. In spite of these dismal conditions, the 
center had a waiting list. There were no other choices for affordable 
childcare facilities within the community!
  Fortunately, in Ohio, we have the Ohio Community Development Finance 
Fund, OCDFF, which is a statewide nonprofit organization that works 
with local organizations in low-income communities. This fund was able 
to coordinate public and private monies to build a new eight-room 
childcare facility, a facility that serves approximately 200 children! 
It is programs like OCDFF that are possible under the Child Care 
Facilities Fund. The ACCESS Act includes the language from the Child 
Care Facilities Fund bill that Senator Dodd and I introduced, which 
authorizes $50 million dollars for the Child Care Facilities Fund.

[[Page S2591]]

  The second most important part of our ACCESS Act is a section that 
contains vital language to help provide emergency childcare services. 
This section would allow parents to access quality care when their 
childcare provider is sick or has a family emergency. The need for this 
type of care was made clear by a tragic incident that happened in Ohio, 
when little two-year-old Charles Knight's mother had to go to work and 
had no one available to care for Charles and his siblings.
  The boy's father was supposed to baby-sit, but he failed to show up 
that day. Charles' mother tried to find a neighbor or family member to 
care for her children, but no one was available. Tragically, she made 
the poor decision to leave her sleeping children unattended, so she 
could work her 12-hour shift. She thought her boys' father would 
eventually show up and baby-sit while she worked.
  The father never arrived. Charles was able to climb up on the 
balcony. This young, unsupervised child fell nine stories off the 
apartment balcony to his death. His mother was charged with 
manslaughter, and his father was charged with child neglect.
  This sad incident just might have been prevented with emergency 
childcare centers. With access to such a center, Charles' mother could 
have gone to work knowing her children were safe and secure.
  Just last month, Summit County, OH, started a program called 
ChildCare NOW in response to an alarming spike in child death and 
injuries. ChildCare NOW is being offered at 17 centers in the Akron-
Canton area of Ohio. These childcare centers are opening their doors to 
many parents whose baby-sitter cancels at the last minute. This program 
is not meant as a permanent childcare replacement but when an 
``emergency'' arises, these are safe alternatives to parental care.
  The language I have included in this bill, emphasizes that local and 
State childcare agencies may use funds on emergency childcare programs, 
programs like ChildCare NOW. More importantly, the next time a mother 
must chose between going to work and leaving her children all alone or 
staying at home and losing a day's pay, she will have a third option, 
to leave her children in an emergency child care center. I think that 
is an important option that we must give to working mothers. It is my 
hope that this language will prevent future tragedies like the death of 
two-year-old Charles Knight.
  Once again, I want to thank Senator Snowe and Senator Dodd for their 
work on the ACCESS Act. This bill is necessary for parents who work, 
especially parents who have worked hard to get off welfare. They should 
be confident that their children are receiving quality care.
  Mr. BREAUX. Madam President. I am pleased to be a cosponsor of the 
2002 ACCESS Act. It is imperative that the Congress continue its 
commitment to low-income families by presenting the President with a 
bipartisan bill reauthorizing the Child Care and Development Block 
Grant.
  I share the Administration's goal to ``Leave No Child Behind.'' 
Children should not be the victims of welfare reform, left behind with 
inconsistent child care accommodations that do not adequately prepare 
them for the challenges to come. It is precisely this cycle of 
dependency and poverty that welfare reform was intended to end.
  In 1996, we fundamentally changed the mentality of welfare from 
dependence to independence by creating the Temporary Assistance to 
Needy Families TANF, block grant. At the same time, we made a 
commitment to poor families that were sent into the work force at low 
wages that they would be supported with access to quality child care.
  Reliable child care is directly related to job retention. A parent 
cannot be in two places at once, and an employer is not likely to 
retain an employee that is unreliable at work due to a lack of 
consistent care for their child. It is not just about getting a job, 
this is about helping families keep their jobs and move up the career 
ladder.
  In Louisiana, I hear over and over again about access to safe and 
affordable child care. The legislation being introduced today will 
ensure that child care provided to these families is not only 
affordable, but that it meets certain safety and quality standards to 
ensure children are placed in an environment where they can grow and 
learn.
  Access to child care is often limited by states to families with the 
lowest incomes. National studies show only 12-15 percent of children 
eligible for federally subsidized child care get it. And in many rural 
areas, there are no child care providers at all. So as Congress debates 
increasing work requirements for people on welfare, the increasing need 
for working families to have quality child care must also be taken into 
consideration.
  I commend Senators Dodd and Snowe for their efforts to increase 
access to child care for low income families, while improving the 
quality of child care services.
                                 ______