[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 58 (Monday, April 14, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2256-H2263]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WEEK OF THE YOUNG CHILD
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 18, 2007, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz)
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Madam Speaker, before I begin, I would like to
ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in
which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous
material.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity
that has been given to us by Speaker Pelosi tonight to talk about an
issue that is affecting literally millions of families across America,
and that is the lack of affordable child care and early childhood
education. It is especially important to highlight these issues as this
week marks the Week of the Young Child.
For the next hour, we're going to focus on young children and how,
over the last 7 years, we have failed to provide adequate and necessary
funding for vital child care and early childhood education.
And I can tell you, Madam Speaker, that as a mother of three young
children--I have 8-year-old twins and an almost 5-year-old, 4\1/2\-
year-old little girl--this is something that is near and dear to my
heart.
I remember the struggle that I went through when I first gave birth
to my twins and had to go back to work, and we searched and searched
for a quality child care program. We were turning our newborn babies, 3
months old, 4 months old, over to really, basically, someone we didn't
know, someone to care for our little ones all day long. You know, we
just couldn't even imagine turning over the care of our babies, our
most precious resource, we couldn't imagine turning over our babies to
anyone.
So you can imagine the struggle that people go through when, on top
of having to decide where they can take their children to be cared for
while they work, that they also have to struggle through the angst of
not knowing or not expecting that they can afford that care. And
because we have continued to slash and burn from this administration
the funding for Head Start and for the Child Care Development Block
Grants programs, we absolutely wanted to come to the floor tonight and
spend an hour, at least an hour, highlighting the needs that children
in this country have, and particularly those of working families. And
I'm going to be joined tonight by several of my colleagues.
Before we begin, though, I do want to recognize and thank our good
friend, Chairman George Miller of the Education and Labor Committee,
and Chairman Kildee, Dale Kildee, for their leadership and their
commitment to child care issues and education, as well as the Head
Start and Child Care Development Block Grant Program funding. These are
all programs that are near and dear to their hearts, and a number of
these Members have submitted statements.
We just have to highlight that there are children, especially those
from low-income families, that need better access to high-quality early
childhood programs. Across the Nation, Madam Speaker, child care fees
average from $4,000 to $10,000 per year which exceed the cost of public
universities in most States. Yet nationally, only one in seven children
who are financially eligible for child care subsidies is being served.
One in seven.
And at this time, I would like to turn the podium over to a champion
for America's children, the voice in this body that is consistently
there for those who have no voice. She is the current Chair of the
Woman's Caucus, Congressman Lois Capps of California.
Mrs. CAPPS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues in
recognition of the Week of the Young Child. I want to thank our
colleague from Florida, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is such a good
role model, and oftentimes her children are here, and they give
testimony to the fact that working moms can be successful parents as
well as wonderful professionals in this business that we're in.
And I'm pleased to be with some of my colleagues, Mazie Hirono and
Jason Altmire and others who may join us, to call attention to the
importance of the Week of the Young Child. My daughter and her dearest
friend, whom she met in preschool, are visiting and taking part in
this; and it's a testimony to the importance of those early years and
some life-long friendships that can result as a result of that.
As we celebrate this important week, I want to take the opportunity
to highlight two very critical programs which our colleague has already
mentioned that are so important to young children: The Child Care and
Development Block Grant, CCDBG, and Head Start. As someone who has
spent most of my life working with our kids in our public schools, I
know firsthand the power and the importance of these programs for both
our kids and our families.
Due to the realities and demands of today's family life, there are
many young people, many children who are left with too much
unstructured time, and we know the hours right after school are the
most dangerous and important hours of the day.
Unfortunately, parents are working longer hours and often have to
leave their children in the care of their siblings or others who should
not have to have the responsibility to do this. Child care can often be
the second highest cost in the family budget. Sometimes, it's the
highest. Child care costs consume roughly 42 percent of the median
single parent's family income, at around $10,000 annually.
With a growing home mortgage crisis and stagnant economic outlook,
parents cannot afford this. It's simply a matter that is of dire
consequence to many of our families today.
Child care and development block grants enable 162,000 children a
month in California to receive adequate child care. As the only source
of Federal funding to subsidize child care for low-income families,
CCDBG has life-changing effects on thousands of families in California
and therefore needs our full support.
Unfortunately, this program has been level funded for 6 years, and
that is why I'm fully supporting an $874 million increase in CCDBG.
This funding would restore the program to an adequate level and provide
child care to an additional 39,400 children in California
[[Page H2257]]
alone. And as you can see from the chart here, there are children all
across this country standing in line, waiting in line.
One of the largest circles, if not the largest circle, is the one
that designates California where 207,000 children today are standing in
line waiting for child care. And you know, we know children don't stand
in line. They don't stay. It is not status quo for children. They miss
an opportunity. There's a black hole. There's a gap in what they need
for their development, and that time goes away, and it never will come
back to them.
This investment that we need to make here will not only result in
boosting children's social development and their school readiness but
results in stable and productive employment among parents. The biggest
worry that parents have on the job is what's happening to their
children at home. The biggest obstruction to their doing their job well
is the worry and the constant concern about where their children are
and how they're being cared for.
Providing the resources for children will help these parents gain
promotions in their job and do a better work product for their
employers.
Additionally, an early childhood education provides a foundation
necessary for the child's educational future. For four decades, Head
Start programs have so successfully provided early education, health
care, social service and parental involvement support for low-income
children and their families. This is a proven program. It's tested.
It's tried. It has succeeded for over the generations, and we know that
this program works. It is one of the most cost-effective ways we can
use tax dollars. The program helps children start their education ready
to succeed.
So much of education is focused on closing achievement gaps, and I
believe Head Start is one of the best tools to do that because it
starts at the front end before the gaps widen. Sadly, Head Start has
received only modest funding increases over the past 7 years. Without
an increase, thousands of children could lose access to Head Start
because of inflation. The program is fundamental to the education
success of thousands of children. We know that, and yet the program can
only serve roughly half of the children who are eligible.
I know, I believe I have seen it firsthand; Head Start gives all
children the opportunity to succeed in school and therefore in life.
And I fully support a $1.072 billion increase for this vital program.
Our children deserve this support.
And now it is my pleasure to relinquish my time to my colleagues who
will carry this debate in this hour of conversation forward, and I'm so
honored to be amongst them and to know that we are speaking for others
in our Congress as well who know that this is the time to act on these
matters.
I thank my colleague for yielding to me.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I thank Congresswoman Capps. You have just
been an incredible leader on the issues that are important to women and
young families, and it is so incredibly important in this Week of the
Young Child that we have a leader like Congresswoman Capps, the Chair
of the Women's Caucus, who has been such a stalwart on the issues that
are important to young women and families; and it's just a pleasure to
have her join us on the floor today.
It is also a pleasure to have such a committed and passionate and
compassionate father serving in the House of Representatives with us
from Pennsylvania, a wonderful father of two young daughters and
someone who has done an incredible job since he's joined the Congress
after the 2006 election, Congressman Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania.
{time} 2100
Mr. ALTMIRE. I thank the gentlewoman. And I did want to say about our
colleague from California, there are a lot of advocates for children
and for young families in this Congress, and a lot of us are passionate
about those issues, but there is no one who has done more advocacy and
has worked harder than Congresswoman Capps, and so I want to thank her
for her comments.
I was in my office and I heard that this Special Order was beginning.
And the gentlewoman knows the passion that I bring to the table to
these issues. Early childhood education is something I have always
talked about. I am a member of a board that is not even in my district.
There is an organization far outside my district called the Heritage
Health Foundation in a town called Braddock, Pennsylvania, and they
sponsor an early childhood education center called the For Kids Center.
And it's been in existence long enough that you can see the fruits of
the labor there. You can see children that have come through the
program, that have had access to early childhood education, and compare
them to this community that has fallen on hard times, students and
children that have not had access at the same level to early childhood
education. And what you find is that the students who have gone through
the For Kids Center, the early childhood center and have had access to
those services test three grade levels ahead of their peers when you
test peer to peer.
Early childhood education works, there is no question about it. And
the dollars that we reinvest into the system are paid back many times
over in the dividends that they pay in the grade levels and testing
better and the performance throughout their school, and they get into
less trouble and the kids perform better academically. It all builds
upon itself.
So when I was elected to Congress, as the gentlewoman said, in 2006,
one of the first things you have to do is choose what committee you're
going to serve on. And I knew right away that I wanted to serve on the
Education Committee because I wanted to work on the Head Start
Reauthorization. That's one of the first things out of the gate that
that committee was tasked with doing. I was involved with the Head
Start Reauthorization, and we were able to get that through Congress
because everyone should be able to agree on the need for early
childhood education.
In Pennsylvania, we have 7,529 children that are standing in line for
child care. In the chart that the congresswoman from California (Mrs.
Capps) showed, you can see Pennsylvania; 7,529 children that should
have access to child care and early education services, but don't.
So I want to thank the gentlewoman from Florida for her friendship
and her leadership. As she mentioned, I do have two young daughters,
and I can see the value of these services. I just wish that everyone in
this country could have access to the same services that we have access
to. I thank you for your leadership and for the opportunity to address
the House tonight.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you, Mr. Altmire. And thank you for your
leadership and for giving your time in public service to make sure that
the next generation is well represented here in the halls of Congress.
It is incredibly important and so beneficial to the issues important
to working families to have parents of young children serving in the
Congress, having moms and dads who are living and dealing with these
issues every day. We've got to make sure that we have their voice
represented strongly in this House of Representatives.
And now it's my privilege to turn the mic over to my good friend who
represents the beautiful islands of Hawaii, the gentlewoman from
Hawaii, Mazie Hirono.
Ms. HIRONO. I thank the gentlelady from Florida for her leadership on
issues important to our young people, and for yielding some time to me.
I know that you mentioned mothers and fathers. Well, grandparents,
too, because I'm a step-grandparent and I have a wonderful step-
daughter who has two young children. So these are issues near and dear
to all of us.
As we commemorate the Week of the Young Child, I rise today in strong
support of quality early childhood education, and tonight, in
particular, for increased funding for Head Start and the Child Care and
Development block grants, two Federal programs supporting our youngest
children.
Congress got it right when it created Head Start 43 years ago. This
is an example of a government program that families depend on every day
and that really works, thanks largely to the many talented and
dedicated teachers throughout our Nation.
I want to take a moment to commemorate the life of one such teacher,
[[Page H2258]]
Mrs. Leona Stevens, who served as the lead teacher at several Maui Head
Start centers for over 15 years. She passed away unexpectedly recently
and will be deeply missed by all of us.
Mrs. Stevens was known for valuing students' creativity and
continually asked them, ``why do you think that'' and ``what do you
think will happen?'' She was equally passionate about improving the
quality of Head Start by training new early education teachers and
furthering her own education. She went back to school to get her
associates degree in early childhood education and spent 7 years
working in partnership with Maui Community College to train new Head
Start teachers.
Last year, while Leona was mentoring new young teachers, Congress
worked hard to pass the Head Start Reauthorization bill, which was
signed into law. The bill made many improvements to this program, but
the single most important thing we did was to increase the amount of
money authorized for Head Start.
Of course we all know the difference between authorized levels and
appropriated levels. This year, we must put our money where our mouth
is. The fact is, only half of all eligible children are served by Head
Start, and a measly 3 percent of eligible infants and toddlers are
served by early Head Start. This means hundreds of thousands of low-
income families are without access to high-quality early education
opportunities for their children.
Speaker Pelosi hosted a summit for America's children last year in
which we heard from neuroscientists, police chiefs, business leaders,
all of whom told us in unequivocal language that it pays to invest in
children before they turn six. I chaired a hearing on early education
in the full Education and Labor Committee earlier this year, and we
heard the same message from State level advocates and policy makers.
I talk to parents, Kindergarten teachers and business leaders in
Hawaii every time I go home, and they tell me that we must increase
access to high-quality early education and child care opportunities.
Why? Because that is the best investment that we can make in our young
children and in our country's future.
Certainly this year, like every other year, Congress will face many
difficult spending decisions. We will fund our veterans and troops,
fund health and alternative energy research, fund our public schools. I
will support increases in all of these things, but this is not a zero
sum game and we cannot afford to let our youngest children slip through
the cracks.
We should increase funding for Head Start by at least $1 billion and
increase funding for CCDBG by $874 million. It is a matter of fairness.
Every child deserves a shot at success. We know, however, that many
children from low-income families start Kindergarten with half the
vocabulary of their wealthier peers. High-quality preschool can do much
to close this gap.
It is a matter, also, of economic prosperity. Our small business
community, our science and technology community all need educated
workers. Low-income children who go to a high-quality preschool are
more likely to graduate from high school than their peers that did not
go to preschool.
Finally, it is a smart investment of Federal dollars. Research shows
that every dollar invested in high-quality early education programs
returns somewhere between $2 and $17. Even at the very low end of that
spectrum, it is a worthwhile investment.
Parents, police officers, business owners and teachers across Hawaii
and the rest of the country are asking us to make children a priority.
I know that Maui's beloved Mrs. Stevens would join them. I urge my
colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to provide real increases to
these vital programs.
And I close by saying that the working people of Hawaii, we have a
much higher percentage of working parents, working single parents than
probably any other State in the country, and that is because the cost
of living is very high in Hawaii. I've talked to the many mothers and
fathers and grandparents who take care of their grandchildren now of
how important it is for their kids and their grandchildren to have a
good start in life. And certainly one of the best ways for them to get
a good start in life is to make sure that we continue to support Head
Start and the other grant programs that will give them this chance.
I yield back to my colleague from Florida and thank her for her
continuing leadership on these and so many other issues.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you so much, Congresswoman Hirono. You
have been an incredible leader when it comes to the issues that are
important to working families.
I often think about the constituents that you represent. We make
public policies so far away from the people that you represent; they
need a strong voice all the more for that reason, and you have done an
amazing job representing them. It's a pleasure and an honor to serve
with you here.
Ms. HIRONO. Same here. Thank you very much.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you very much.
Mr. Speaker, to continue on with the highlighting of the Week of the
Young Child, there are statistics that are incredibly important, and I
will go through some of those this evening. But more important than the
statistics and the studies are the stories. And I can tell you, as a
mom with young children, who I probably will talk about quite a bit
this evening, you don't need studies, you don't need statistics to be
able to see the progress that your child makes when they go through a
preschool, when they go through a childcare program. And you can see
their brain literally working like sponges, absorbing the information
and processing it and turning it into useful information. And I can
tell you that I've seen my children, my four-and-a-half-year-old is
still in pre-K and is just about to enter Kindergarten next year. And
I've watched her learn her ABCs, she can count to 100, she knows every
color, every shape. And had she not had an opportunity to go to a
wonderful preschool program to learn those things, yes, I could have
spent time with her and taught her those things, but given that I work
full-time, and when I think about the hundreds of thousands, millions
of parents who have to struggle with that choice, and then an
administration that callously cuts those programs or flat funds them so
that fewer, not more, parents have access to Head Start and child care,
it's just absolutely unconscionable. I wonder if they have a soul. I
wonder if there is anyone in the White House that has a soul and that
has a heart. Because surely those kinds of decisions are only made by
heartless people.
I am so glad to be joined by the gentlewoman from New York, a
wonderful Member, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke. And I am glad that she
has also joined me tonight.
Before I turn it over to her, I want to highlight a story of Jennifer
from Chicago because, like I said, highlighting the stories as opposed
to the studies and the stats is what really shows you the kind of
impact that the policy decisions that we make up here when it comes to
funding child care programs and Head Start adequately, that's what
really matters.
I want to talk about Jennifer from Chicago, who was profiled in a
news story on Marketplace radio. Jennifer works as a receptionist at a
real estate company. She is a single mom working full-time and going to
school part-time. And so many people will hear their own story in
Jennifer's story.
Jennifer was doing all she could to improve her life and the life of
her daughter. In fact, even though Jennifer was working full-time,
raising her daughter on her own and going to school part-time, she
impressed her boss so much with her work that she was given a small
raise. And then, Jennifer ran into a big problem. With the raise that
she got, she could no longer qualify for assistance with the Illinois
child care program that she had been using. She literally had such a
dramatic shift in what she had to pay for her daughter's child care, it
went from $2,000 to $9,000 a year just by that small increase in her
salary, and that small increase in her salary caused the $9,000 that
she then had to pay, that was 40 percent of her salary, just from the
small raise that she got. Her only option at that point was to send her
5-year-old daughter to live with the girl's father a couple of hours
away in Indiana. So she had to either give up her job or give up her
daughter. But if she gave up her job, she wouldn't be able to care for
her daughter, Mr.
[[Page H2259]]
Speaker. So obviously this is a situation that was not working.
So Jennifer, this is just so sad, she had to go back to her boss and
actually ask him for a demotion. She had to ask him to cut her pay by
about $100 per paycheck so that she could be eligible for the
subsidized child care again so that she could get her daughter back.
That was the choice that she was faced with, and it was just awful. I
can't even imagine. That meant that her income would again qualify for
the child care assistance, and then she immediately applied for it.
So the transition from paying a copayment to paying the full cost of
care is what Illinois Action for Children calls ``the cliff.'' People
like Jennifer, they fall off the cliff. And we actually penalize people
like Jennifer who work hard to try to get ahead. We tell them no, you
can't work your way up.
We can't continue to hold these people back. We have got to make sure
that we help these people pursue these dreams, advance themselves, be
able to improve the quality of their children's education, improve
their own lot in life and their family's lot in life, not give them a
choice between giving up their children or pursuing a better
opportunity in life.
And Ms. Clarke, the National Women's Law Center says that only one in
seven U.S. children are eligible for Federal child care help; only one
in seven of those kids get it. And in the view of the National Women's
Law Center, all these programs for Head Start and child care have never
been fully funded by the Federal Government.
I would be happy to yield to the gentlewoman. Thank you for joining
us today.
Ms. CLARKE. I want to thank the gentlewoman from Florida, Ms. Debbie
Wasserman Schultz, for her leadership on this issue, and at the advent
of the Week of the Young Child, that we would take this time to really
put things in focus.
You know, every time I go home to my district on the weekends there
is a particular constituent of mine that no matter where he sees me, we
say something to each other. He started this when I was running for
office. And he said to me, ``Yvette, if you ever get elected, remember
the children.''
{time} 2115
Every time I run into the gentleman, he says the same thing to me
over and over, and now that's how we greet each other: ``Remember the
children.'' And while we're going through all of the challenges that we
are facing in day-to-day life as adults, remembering the children is
probably the most poignant message that we could give to this
administration and, quite frankly, give to our constituencies and to
this Nation. The investment we make in our youngest, most vulnerable
today will be the difference in where this Nation will be in the next
decade, the next score, the next 100 years. And the short-sightedness
for so long in providing the real resource and support that our
families need, that our parents need, that our mothers need, to give
their children really what I believe they should be entitled to,
because as you've stated already this evening, the science point to it.
The earlier that we begin the education process for our children, the
more advantaged they are. In communities of color, that means closing
the gap, the achievement gap. We know this. It's well documented.
Science backs it up. Yet the will, the will to really address this
issue is really what we are addressing this evening.
And when we think about the fact that we were innovative enough to
know that creating a Child Care and Development Block Grant was
important, that's fluff with no substance when there's no funding to
it.
And I have been very fortunate. I kind of grew up in the day care
movement. Many people know my mother as a former councilwoman. But even
prior to that, she started her career, one part of her career, let me
put it that way, because she is the renaissance woman, but one of my
earliest recollections of my mom and the work that she did was being a
teacher's aide in a classroom in an early childhood education center.
Some people call them day care centers. But I saw the certified
teachers in the classroom. I saw the nutritious meals, the educational
curricula that were developed just for these students. So I know
better. I know that these are early childhood education.
She worked her way up from being a teacher's aide to an assistant
teacher and then to a full class teacher. She then went on to become a
day care director and then became a supervisor of several day care
centers within our city's extensive child care system.
So the thousands, if not tens of thousands of lives that I've seen
personally touched by an early childhood education experience, we can't
put a dollar figure on it. These are young people who I run into today
that say, ``I used to go to your mom's day care; I'm now a doctor.''
``I used to in your mom's day care; I'm now a teacher.'' ``I used to be
in your mom's day care; can I write you a check?'' I'm like, all right,
that's really worth it. That's really worth it.
And I make light of it, but it's really up to us, the 110th Congress,
to really push the envelope where this is concerned. This is where the
rubber meets the road. We find ourselves in some really challenging
times when it comes to workforce, workforce demands, the individuals
who will be future employees. And we have talked about the challenge of
our public school systems and truly adequately educating our students
and our scholars when we have this opportunity right now to make it
clear that we do stand for the education of our children. We do stand
for providing for young children this opportunity to get that head
start in life.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Reclaiming my time, you made a reference to
your mom and the wonderful quality of care that she provided to the
children that she cared for over the years. And then, of course, she
made hiring decisions as she moved up the ladder and became a child
care director. Your comments about your mom's involvement with
improving the lives of children in those programs made me think about
finding the information on providers' salaries because it is horrendous
that we are actually cutting the funding for these programs for the
kids themselves and that only one in seven kids are eligible. But
listen to the statistics about how much the providers, the teachers,
are actually paid:
The average Head Start teacher's salary, and, now, that's Head Start,
not child care. We are talking about two separate programs here tonight
so that people understand me because these acronyms get thrown around a
whole lot in Washington. We have the Head Start program, which is the
high-quality education program that subsidizes and provides high-
quality preschool education for young kids who are income eligible, and
then there's the Child Care and Development Block Grant program, which
is a subsidized child care program that is funded around the States and
there's a Federal-State match for.
So the average Head Start teacher's salary varies by the teacher's
education. So if you have what's called a child development
associate's, which is the first rung on the ladder in terms of an
education credential, not a certified teacher but you have a lot of
hours of course work that you've taken, an average Head Start teacher
with a CDA gets paid about $21,000. If you have an associate's degree,
so now you've got a 2-year college degree, you get $22,500. If you have
a baccalaureate degree, that is a full-blown college degree, you make
about $27,000 in the Head Start program. Now, the average teacher's
salary, who also get hired with a baccalaureate degree, is about
$48,000, $49,000. So a Head Start teacher, depending on their education
credential, makes between $21,000 and $27,000 a year. I mean that is
just unbelievable.
Ms. CLARKE. It really is, if the gentleman will yield.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Absolutely. I just wanted to insert that.
Ms. CLARKE. I think it's a very important point because one of the
challenges that our very extensive public day care system is
experiencing in the city of New York is the stress between being a
certified teacher in the public day care center, the salaries received
there, versus maybe a couple more course credits and going into the
straight into the public schools that calling for more teachers, more
qualified teachers, certified teachers, and so we see a bleeding of the
system. We went through a very extensive time of advocacy, activism to
really mobilize for early childhood education, for day
[[Page H2260]]
care, for working parents, for working mothers, and now we are seeing
an erosion, all a reaction to a lot of what we have seen in terms of
the cuts. So in New York City, where we have had this longstanding
system of over 330 day care centers throughout the five boroughs that
employ almost 6,000 caregivers, we're seeing day care closings.
And that doesn't mean the demand is gone. The demand continues. The
waiting list continues in perpetuity. There will be some children who
won't get this opportunity. They will be disadvantaged.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. It's not that the need is not there.
Ms. CLARKE. That's right.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Is it really that if the funding is not there,
then these centers can't afford to stay open?
Ms. CLARKE. That's right. So there are some real challenges that we
have to look squarely in the eye. And we have to ask ourselves what
about the children? How are we preparing ourselves to sacrifice as a
society to make sure that in 10 years, in 20 years, in 30 years, we are
one of the most competitive nations in the world? We're struggling with
those answers and trying to balance it all out now, but it begins with
an investment that we make in our young.
And what we are seeing in terms of these cuts and in terms of the
rhetoric coming from the Bush Administration do not bode well,
notwithstanding all of what we hear about his care and his concern for
the families of our Nation.
Put the money for the mouth is. That's what I say. Put the money
where the mouth is. We want to expand and institutionalize early
childhood education so that the United States is, indeed, the most
competitive when it comes to development of our scientists and
development of our engineers and development of those who will have to
compete globally as our economy continues to morph with young scholars
coming from other nations who have decided, notwithstanding their GDPs,
to invest in the education of their children.
And so I just wanted to stop in and share some of my experience with
you, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, and to say to my colleagues that we have to
stand up. This is a critical issue, and as we reflect on the week of
the young child, it is important that we not forget that they come from
a community of families, and those families are struggling. They need
to be able to be at the job on time. They need to be able to know that
their children are safe and in a wholesome environment while they are
at work. And that's what these child care centers and these early
childhood education environments create for the children and for their
parents: a sense of relief and a sense of well-being both for the child
and the family.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Absolutely. And I want to thank you so much
for coming down and joining me tonight.
What we have been trying to do is highlight the consequences to these
horrendous policymaking decisions. And I talked about Jennifer a few
minutes ago and what her situation is like. Some of my colleagues from
the various States that are represented on this chart mentioned their
own States' statistics this evening. But I want to give a fuller
picture of what the real consequences are to not funding adequately
Head Start and Child Care and Development Block Grants. So this is what
it looks like in my State, Ms. Clarke: In my State of Florida, nearly
45,000 children are standing in line for child care. In other words, we
have got almost 45,000 kids in my State who are eligible for child
care, but they can't get it because we're not funding it adequately, I
mean simply because we are not providing enough funds.
I mean what are we spending it on? What is more important? Like you
said, the gentleman that you said says the same refrain every single
time, ``remember the children,'' that's what it is all about.
I remember being pregnant with my twins and people telling me
throughout my pregnancy, Oh, Debbie, you're life is going to change.
Just wait. You're not going to believe it. You never imagined that you
could care about something so much as when you give birth to your kids.
And you sort of nod and smile, and you tell them, sure, you can imagine
what it's going to be like. Well, you can't imagine. You can't imagine
what it's going to be like until you have them. And that's what
everybody tells you. You can't imagine that you could care and love
something more than when you give birth to your children. And you would
do anything to make sure that they were okay, that they had the best
possible life that they could have.
And when parents who are struggling to make sure that they can put
food on the table, that they can pay the mortgage, not have the house
foreclosed on, make sure that they can have time to go to their job,
but, at the same time, have a high-quality child care situation so that
they don't have to worry about the one or two or three or however many
kids they have that they care more about than anything in the world,
what it is this administration doing? Cutting the funding for our most
precious resource.
So it's not just Florida. It's not just New York. There are 207,000
kids in California on a waiting list.
How about Georgia? Georgia, Ms. Clarke, that actually has a pre-K
program funded by the lottery, which is supposed to provide a pre-K
education to all the 4 year olds in that State, and there are only 6
million people in the State of Georgia as it is, there are 24,808,
almost 25,000 kids on the waiting list for child care that they qualify
for. In North Carolina almost 18,000 kids are on the waiting list,
15,000 in Texas, 207,000 in California. Those are kids that don't have
access to child care who are eligible.
{time} 2130
Nationwide, it is 365,604 children who are waiting in line for child
care. And what do those parents do? What do they do? They have to
choose between working. If they don't work, how are they going to put
food on the table? How are they going to be able to live? Many of these
parents have to choose between whether they are going to be able to
hold on to their children or not. The angst that I feel in my heart
even thinking about having to make a choice like that. There is no one
that should have to make that choice. And that the government, their
own government, would deprive them of the ability to care for their
kids is just mind-boggling.
Ms. CLARKE. Would the gentlewoman yield a moment? Just think about
the mobility of a family that is unable to have their child care
subsidized, the time that it will take for them to be able to gain firm
footing once their children now get into public schools. And then the
challenges they may face with learning deficits, quite frankly, because
there are children of means who are being given an opportunity to be in
stimulating learning environments when some working class parents just
can't afford it. And without the support that we can give, we are
really handicapping. We are really tying the arms of these families and
these communities. And we know that if we just give people a chance in
this society, they can make the best of it. And that can make a
difference from one generation to the next.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Absolutely. And let's show people what we
mean. And I know you have seen this information before. What we are
talking about, when you describe the difference between a parent who
can't decide to bring their child to a child care program because there
is no money, they can't afford to pay for it, the Federal Government is
slashing the funding for it so they don't have a slot funded for their
child, even though they are eligible, what happens, like you said, is
that you have the parents who can afford it when those kids get to
public school, they have already been through several years of
prekindergarten, and they arrive at school and start kindergarten at 5
years old ready to learn, which is what the goal of Head Start and
these child care programs is. The Federal funding that we provide is
designed to make sure those children get to school ready to learn.
And this is the correlation of funding from the Federal Government
for child care and Head Start and brain development. We are literally
funding it in the opposite direction from the way the brain grows and
develops and when we provide funding. So here is when you have the most
brain growth, and the most rapid brain growth and the most important
point in a child's life for that brain growth, and we are funding it
the most when we are well beyond the points that the child's brain
[[Page H2261]]
growth has not ceased, but certainly when it has slowed.
This chart should be inversed. We should be funding the highest
percentage when the child's brain is developing at its earliest point
between birth and 5 years old. But we are doing the opposite. It makes
absolutely no sense. It really boggles my mind.
And that hurts. We are talking about real kids. I brought pictures of
real children who are impacted by these decisions because I think we
have to remember what we are talking about here. So often when we have
discussions on the floor here, it becomes easy to become desensitized
to the fact that we are talking about real people. These are real
children who are being cared for. And I am going to tell their story in
a little bit. But look at these beautiful children. And this is their
caregiver. And I'm going to tell their story in a couple of minutes.
But I just don't think it can be forgotten that every funding cut,
every decision we make like this affects one of these precious babies.
And I just can't even imagine how there is no heart in the White House.
Although I shouldn't be shocked after almost 8 years of this
administration. It is just unbelievable. We have got to make sure, and
the reason that we are here tonight during the Week of the Young Child,
is we have to make sure that we push in the next fiscal year, in fiscal
year 2009, for an increase in Child Care and Development Block Grant
funding the Head Start program. And Democrats have been fighting to
make sure that we do that. We passed a wonderful Head Start bill. We
have got to make sure that we reverse the lost ground that has occurred
after 7 years of flat funding from this administration.
Ms. CLARKE. Would the gentlewoman yield a moment? It is an
imperative. As I have said, since I've been on the Hill these past 15
months and have looked just about every crisis in the eye from mortgage
foreclosure to the war in Iraq to you name it, education, health care,
it all points back to the fact that we are at a specific juncture in
our Nation's history that requires courage. And that means the courage
to make the proper investments for the growth and development of our
Nation.
There is no more worthy an investment for us to make than in these
children, than our children, our Nation's children. They will be
inheriting from us a millstone around their ankles if we don't do right
by them today.
With the challenges that we are facing in terms of the debt build-up
in this Nation, it is going to take a whole group of really smart
people, really intelligent folk, who use the ingenuity of who we are as
Americans to take us to the next level. That investment starts now. You
can't invest it in me. It's too late for me. The investment is in our
children.
So I thank the gentlelady again. This is a very important special
order that we are here, we are at the advent of the Week of the Young
Child and that we are speaking out for those families that don't have a
voice here, that don't have the high-paid lobbyists, that are really
working every day, and they come home, they hug their babies and they
just want an opportunity for that baby to succeed.
In many instances, those children are struggling like salmon swimming
upstream in environments that are less than wholesome. And were they to
be in an early childhood education setting, they would be sure to get a
nutritious meal every day. They would have a loving caregiver that also
is there to stimulate the growth of the intellect and the brain. And
that is why these dollars that are requested, which are really not
breaking the bank by any means, are so critical and can reap such
dividends in the long run if we do right by them today.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. It is the difference, literally, it's like
when a baby is born, particularly to a working family that is not
rolling in cash, that is literally struggling to put together their
paychecks every month to meet their family's needs, it's like that
baby's life begins on a crossroads. And we hold the key to which path
they will end up on.
If we decide, like this administration, like the Bush administration
has consistently decided during their time in office to cut the funding
for child care, subsidized child care and for Head Start, then we are,
not always, because there are kids that avoid it, but we are making it
much more likely that the path that those kids travel down end up
sending them more likely into a life of crime, potentially into an
inability or decision not to graduate from high school. They end up
dropping out. They make the wrong choices because they don't learn at
the earliest stage how to make the right choices. They don't learn the
basics. They don't have all the tools that they need to draw upon to be
strong, to deal with life's challenges. This is not exaggeration. This
is real.
Ms. CLARKE. The achievement gap is real. It is well-documented. And
if these children had that Head Start, had the early childhood
education, it closes the achievement gap by leaps and bounds. The clock
to education doesn't start when we slide that child into the
kindergarten door. There is so much more that goes into it. And I am a
witness to what early childhood education can do. I have seen it for
generations in New York, for working-class parents, parents that by no
means are wealthy, but we had a period of time in our city's history
where we understood that early childhood education was a critical
component to not only helping working families but to giving those
children that educational boost, that stimulating environment, that
healthy and wholesome environment while their parents were at work.
There is nothing worse than a parent that has to worry about their
child. We hear these horrible stories about people who go to work and
leave their child in a car, or worse leave it with a younger child that
is then caught in a situation where harm comes to them. We need to be
able to allay those types of fears for parents. And this is a win-win-
win scenario, our investment in Head Start and Child Care and
Development Block Grants. It's a win-win-win scenario.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. It is. And it's hard to imagine what's more
important. Should we continue to spend $14 million an hour in Iraq?
Fourteen million dollars an hour is what we are spending in Iraq. Yet
we can't come up with the funding that we need to make sure that all
the kids in this country that are eligible for Head Start and for
subsidized child care can actually go.
Ms. CLARKE. Or gentlelady, how about $110,000 a year for a child in
juvenile detention?
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. It is unbelievable. So we are choosing to lock
kids like that up and spend more money, much more money, than we would
spend on them up front to make sure that they get the education and the
early start and the building blocks for success that are so much less
expensive, but are also just the right thing to do. But for the
accident of your birth you should not be in a situation where some kids
are getting those basics and other kids are thrown to the wolves. We
have these programs so that we can equalize the situation in life for
Americans.
Look, we live in a capitalistic society. And that is absolutely the
economy that we all support and know and revere. And it has served us
well through more than 200 years. But because we live in a capitalistic
society, it does not mean that we should be throwing our children, our
most vulnerable, to the wolves but for the accident of their birth.
Ms. CLARKE. What it is is the coming of age. Our economy is evolving
in ways that generations before us could have never imagined. That
means that we have to redouble our efforts when it comes to the
education of our young. We have to come up with the winning strategies
for Americans to be able to move our Nation forward. This is the way to
go. This is the way to go.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. You're absolutely right. I want to tell
another story and highlight the impact on another family. We talked
about the Head Start program. There are also child care providers who
provide wonderful service in those subsidized child care programs. And
we have had frozen Child Care and Development Block Grant funding that
has led to stagnant and even decreasing reimbursement rates for
providers who care for those children receiving subsidies.
In 2006, only nine States paid reimbursement rates that were on par
with what the Federal Government recommends. And one of those results
is there's an alarming 35 percent turnover
[[Page H2262]]
rate for child care providers because they can't afford to continue to
work in that field.
And I want to tell the story of a young woman named Kelly Matthews.
Kelly is a child care provider in Iowa City, Iowa. I want to read you
Kelly's story in her own words, because this is how she described her
situation.
She said, ``You and I share something important in common. We both go
to work each day with a grounded, deeply held belief that we do our
chosen work for one very simple reason, to change the world.''
And I know how many times I have said that the reason I do this job
is to make the world a better place and to change the world. Kelly is
right here with her kids in her program.
She said, ``I don't work in the Halls of Congress, but in my home,
caring for children in my Child Development Home in Iowa City. What
other reason, aside from wishing to impact the future, could motivate
someone to take on a job with modest pay, no benefits and no paid time
off? This isn't about a `job' for me. This is my profession, my chosen
life's work. And it is an amazing gift I am given each day to partner
with the families I serve.
{time} 2145
``I have built my childcare program around the ideas of community,
caring for each other, and falling in love with learning. I love this
work because I have carefully crafted a program where kids succeed in
all these areas in amazing ways: When Claire (at 18 months) already
knows how to comfort a friend, when Trae (at 5 years old) can easily
count and set out the right number of plates for his friends at the
lunch table, when Lexi (at 3 years old) works hard to write the names
of the members of her family, when Gus (at 3 years old) knows how to
care for his things and the things that belong to others, or when two
toddlers are already capable of working out a conflict in a peaceful
way without an adult's intervention,'' what I wouldn't give for that in
my house, ``I know these children will be ready, not only for school,
but just as importantly, for life. They will grow into adults that know
how to take responsibility for themselves and how to care for others,
how to problem solve and be creative in their endeavors, how to keep on
trying, even when it is tricky.''
She said, ``I take this work seriously. Approximately 50 hours a week
of my time with children in my home, plus all the additional hours of
paperwork, supply shopping, continuing education, networking with my
colleagues, and add to that total, developing and presenting hours of
training to inspire other family childcare providers to constantly
improve themselves and their programs. But for those of us committed to
our professions and our vision of an inspired word, it is all in a
day's work, isn't it?''
That is what Kelly Matthews, this wonderful woman with all her
children in her program around her, had to say about her work, and it
is the reason that we are standing here on the floor tonight at the
beginning of the Week of the Young Child.
I am so pleased that you have been able to join me, Ms. Clarke, and I
turn it over to you to close us out.
Ms. CLARKE. I think that your daycare provider has really said it
all. I don't think there is a dollar value that can you truly put on
the work that these women and men do with our youngest, most vulnerable
ones. And they make that sacrifice. Wouldn't it be awesome if they were
rewarded and our communities were rewarded and our families were
rewarded with a government that responded and really put the funding in
place, to not only raise the level, but to get rid of all of those
waiting lists that we see. What a difference that would make in every
one of our communities around this Nation.
Thank you very much for your commitment.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you to the gentlewoman from New York.
Mr. Speaker, we think we have made a very strong case tonight at the
beginning of the Week of the Young Child to make sure that there is a
mandate for this Congress to increase the funding for Head Start,
increase the funding for Child Care and Development Block Grants, and
make sure that when those little babies are put on the crossroads of
the path of their life, that we send them strongly down the right path
so that they can have the best life that they can possibly have.
Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congresswoman Wasserman
Schultz, for organizing this Special Order.
Improved funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant and
Head Start are integral to every child having the opportunity to
succeed in school and in life.
The Child Care and Development Block Grant enables 1.8 million
children from more than 1 million families to receive child care and
provides essential resources to help states improve the quality of that
care. Reliable, high-quality child care supports parents' productive
employment and helps children enter school ready to learn.
Head Start is our country's model for a successful comprehensive
early learning program for low-income children. It combines early
education, health care, social services, and nutrition services with a
strong focus on parent involvement and support and builds on the
strengths of local communities.
The bipartisan 2007 Head Start reauthorization, which I was proud to
have introduced, included many positive provisions that will move the
program forward by expanding access and enhancing quality. But,
increased investment is critical to meeting those goals.
More than 100 of my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, recently
joined me to urge the Appropriations Committee to reverse the
Administration's funding policies that have led to thousands fewer
children attending Head Start than in 2002 and put 200,000 children at
risk of losing child care assistance by 2009 without increased funding.
Whether or not America's most vulnerable young children and their
families will reach their potential depends in large part on our
investment in these programs.
Mr. MATHESON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of an important
program to my district and my state which has been consistently flat
funded for the past seven years: the Head Start program. As you know,
Head Start is an early childhood program with a proven track record of
providing comprehensive developmental, educational, health,
nutritional, and social services to low-income preschool children and
their families, giving them the tools they need to succeed. By
emphasizing parental involvement, Head Start also benefits the entire
family and the broader community. For decades, Head Start has served
thousands low-income children and their families in Utah, ensuring that
they are educationally, socially and medically ready for school.
I have always been a strong supporter of Head Start. After years of
stalemate on proposed changes to the program, I was pleased to vote for
a reauthorization this May, and again in final passage this November,
that includes expanded coverage for low-income children, increased
funding for teacher and staff salaries and professional development,
and strong accountability measures to better ensure that Head Start
funds are used appropriately and efficiently. This bill, HR 1429, was
signed into law by the President on December 12, 2007.
I have appreciated working with countless Utah parents, teachers, and
administrators on the importance of the program but also on ways to
make it stronger and meet the needs of the community. These
perspectives and stories have enhanced my understanding of the valuable
role Head Start plays in the lives of disadvantaged children. I believe
that Head Start is a program with a long-term record of success with
enrollment correlating to IQ gains, improved high school graduation
rates and higher achievement in writing, vocabulary and social skills.
I applaud my colleague, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, for
calling attention to this important program.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is said that we should judge a
society by how it cares for its young, its old, and those who have
difficulty caring for themselves. We have done much in the United
States to care for our young citizens, but justice calls on us to do
much more.
We know that, from 2000 to 2006, poverty increased by 10.7 percent,
leaving 12.8 million children living in poverty. We know that one in
three black children and one in four Latino children lives in poverty.
We know that almost 12 million children under the age of five
participate in some type of regular child care weekly. And we know that
research demonstrates that high quality, comprehensive educational care
for infants and toddlers can eliminate the achievement gap that exists
between middle class and lower-income children.
Together these facts highlight that Federal support for quality care
in the earliest years via Head Start and CCDBG is critical to help
young children from low-income families arrive at kindergarten ready to
learn and obtain a strong foundation for success in life. Despite the
importance of early childhood care and education, Federal funding for
these programs continues to lose ground. With nearly flat funding over
the last several years, Head Start is
[[Page H2263]]
serving fewer children than it did in 2002. Despite an increase in the
percentage of children under six with only working parents, Federal
funding for the Child Care Development Block Grant has been effectively
frozen since 2001.
These cuts affect Chicago and Illinois in very real, negative ways.
In Chicago, just under 41,000 families with children under 5 live under
the poverty line, yet only 17,000 of these children are served by
Chicago Head Start. In Illinois, CCDBG served an average of 82,200
children in 2006, which is 20,000 fewer than it did just five years
ago.
As policymakers, we should invest in families and children by
bringing funding for Head Start, Early Head Start and the Child Care
and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) at least up to the inflation-
adjusted levels at which they were funded in 2002. History will judge
us harshly if we withhold key resources that we know can provide
essential supports for our youngest citizens. During this Week of the
Child, I urge my colleagues to reverse this trend and invest in
children.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to
express my strong support for two essential programs for our children
and families--Child Care and Development Block Grants (CCDBG) and Head
Start.
We know that early investments in our children pay off in the long
run. Early childhood education programs increase school readiness and
achievement, and improve cognitive and social skills needed for
academic success. Investing in Head Start is a good investment, as for
every $1 spent we save nearly $9. These benefits include less welfare
dependency, lower crime rates, and a reduction in grade repetition and
special education services.
CCDBG programs also offer a life line for many low income families.
By offering subsidies for quality child care parents have broader
employment opportunities which result in higher incomes, less turnover,
and increased productivity. In addition, these funds are improving the
quality, as well as the amount of child care available, to low income
families.
In Texas, there are nearly 90,000 children enrolled in Head Start.
Current proposed funding levels for Head Start in the FY 2009
Presidential Budget will leave this program in peril. If enacted at the
President's requested level, 14,000 fewer children will be able to be
enrolled in Head Start in 2009. Last year, Congress made many needed
improvements to the Head Start program during reauthorization. Many of
these improvements will not be enacted without a significant increase
in funding.
CCDBG faces similar prospects if there is not an increase in funding.
Wait lists for CCDBG programs continue to rise. In Texas, there are
currently 15,000 children on a waitlist for child care assistance. If
funding continues at current levels 300,000 fewer children nationally
will receive child care assistance by 2010. Without this much needed
assistance, parents will be forced to make increasingly difficult
choices. Many will be forced into debt, will choose lower-quality child
care, or end up back on welfare rolls.
Mr. Speaker, we must increase the resources to these programs. Flat
funding for CCDBG and near-flat funding for Head Start over the past
decade has left hundreds of thousands of children without needed
assistance. Current economic conditions have hit many of our low income
families the hardest. Now, more than ever additional assistance is
needed. I strongly encourage an increase in funding for these essential
programs.
Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, today, in California, 1.7 million children
under age six require childcare because of working parents. Of these,
nearly 200,000 are served in local programs that receive money from
Child Care and Development Block Grants.
Mr. Speaker, you and I know that in the San Francisco Bay Area, most
families rely on a minimum of two incomes just to make ends meet. In a
time of rising gas and food prices and uncertain economic prospects,
many are forced to take on additional jobs just to keep up.
Yet, the President's budget, for the sixth straight year, does not
provide enough just to maintain the current level of services. In fact,
the budget for Child Care and Development Block Grants falls $41
million short and hasn't been adjusted for inflation since 2003.
Mr. Speaker, like most states, California can illafford to pick up
the slack, which in 2009 will total over four and half million dollars.
Since 2002, our state has been on the hook for $52.7 million.
Meanwhile, the president has provided just a 2.1 percent increase for
Head Start, a program widely acknowledged as one of the most successful
in the federal government. This won't even keep pace with inflation and
falls woefully short of what is needed to catch up to the more than
$110 million in funding that California has lost relative to Fiscal
Year 2002 funding.
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the approximately 130,000 California
children registered in Head Start and the benefit that early childhood
education provides to our nation, I urge the Congress and President
Bush to do all we can to adequately provide for this most important
resource.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, thank you very much to the
Speaker, and we yield back the balance of our time.
____________________