[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 134 (Wednesday, July 29, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E697-E698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SUPPORTING H.R. 7027, THE CHILD CARE IS ESSENTIAL ACT AND H.R. 7327, 
                THE CHILD CARE FOR ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 29, 2020

  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7027, the Child 
Care Is Essential Act and H.R. 7327, the Child Care for Economic 
Recovery Act. Taken together, these bills make critical investments in 
our nation's child care programs to meet the short and long term needs 
of America's families which are so long overdue.
  The next frontier is high quality, affordable, universal child care. 
Without it, American workers and in particular women to whom child care 
often falls, will not be able to reach their full economic potential. 
In the short term, Americans will not be able to return to work and the 
economy will not be able to reopen unless there are adequate, safe 
child care options for parents. 13 percent of Americans report having 
to reduce their work hours or leave their jobs because they don't have 
access to child care during the pandemic.
  Options for affordable child care are already scarce in many parts of 
the country, if available at all, and child care providers operate on 
very thin margins. This has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, 
which threatens to permanently close thousands of child care providers, 
resulting in a permanent loss of 4.5 million child care slots according 
to the Center for American Progress.
  Congress has sought to address the most immediate child care crises 
created by the pandemic by providing over $4 billion for existing 
federal programs that support the care and education of young children 
and their families and expanded funding for child care providers to 
meet payroll, benefits, rent and other expenses. The House-passed 
HEROES Act provided an additional $7 billion for child care providers, 
but this is a relatively small amount compared to the growing need for 
stabilization of the child care sector as the pandemic rages on.
  H.R. 7027 doubles down on the House's commitment to child care 
providers by creating a $50 billion stabilization fund to be used for 
grants to child care providers to pay for increased costs during 
periods of low enrollment during the COVID-19 crisis and requires 
employers to keep child care workers on payroll to ensure that these 
providers will be able to reopen their doors once the pandemic ends. 
Most importantly, this stabilization funding requires child care 
providers operating during

[[Page E698]]

COVID-19 to meet strict health and safety guidance that ensures 
American children are kept safe from the virus.
  H.R. 7327 makes critical investments in the long term needs of child 
care providers and expands the availability of high quality child care 
in our country. It provides funding to states for existing child care 
programs, invests in child care infrastructure, and fills in gaps in 
child care for essential workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 
pandemic. The bill also makes the Child and Dependent Care tax credit 
fully refundable and creates new tax credits for employees and 
employers to access child care.
  Together, these bills will address one of our nation's enormous 
challenges--access to high quality, affordable child care. I'm proud to 
support both H.R. 7027 and H.R. 7327 and I urge my colleagues to vote 
for them.

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