[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 162 (Monday, September 20, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H4534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          SUBSIDIZED CHILDCARE

  (Ms. JACOBS of California asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACOBS of California. Madam Speaker, in San Diego County, which I 
am proud to represent, since the pandemic started, more than 500 
childcare providers have closed their doors, and the families of more 
than 190,000 kids don't have access to the care they need.
  Across the country, nearly 1.6 million moms of children under 17 are 
still missing from the labor force--an economic crisis decades in the 
making.
  The Build Back Better Act is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to 
lower the cost of childcare, expand availability, and boost the wages 
of the essential childcare workers that make our country go.
  It isn't just the right thing for our families, it is the right thing 
for our economy. According to a Nobel Prize-winning economist, we save 
$7 for every $1 we invest in quality early childhood programs. So while 
some of my colleagues may argue that we can't afford to do these 
things, the truth is we can't afford not to.
  Madam Speaker, we have to meet this moment, and we have to build back 
better.

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