[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14421]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               EMERGENCY CHILD CARE SERVICES ACT OF 2007

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 24, 2007

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce 
the Emergency Child Care Services Act of 2007 which reaffirms the 
Federal Government's commitment to helping children and families as 
they recover from acts of terrorism, major disasters or other 
emergencies.
  After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, more than 3,000 licensed child 
care facilities along the Gulf Coast were damaged or destroyed. Parents 
needed a safe place to leave their children while working, looking for 
employment, cleaning debris from their homes, filing claims with their 
insurance companies or working with Federal, State and local agencies 
to address their disaster-related needs.
  However, while 3,045 licensed child care centers were eligible, just 
10 centers in Louisiana and only one in Mississippi received Federal 
assistance. There were 1,690 eligible centers in my home state of 
Mississippi alone. I understand that numerous centers are still going 
through the appeals process with FEMA and have yet to rebuild and 
reopen.
  I introduced this legislation to amend the Stafford Act to ensure 
that emergency child care is recognized as a ``critical service'' in 
the aftermath of a terrorist attack, major disaster or other emergency.
  While provisions of the Stafford Act provide assistance to private 
nonprofit facilities that provide critical services, emergency child 
care is not listed as one. Passage of this measure will designate 
emergency child care as a critical service and let families know that 
in the time of a disaster, the need for childcare will not be 
forgotten.
  In an effort to rebuild and restore child care operations in my home 
State of Mississippi, the Mississippi Early Care and Education 
Infrastructure Initiative was formed by Mississippi State University in 
partnership with Chevron, Save the Children, and the W.K. Kellogg 
Foundation.
  The goals of the Initiative were to quickly reopen the thousands of 
child care centers damaged or destroyed by the hurricanes, to retrain 
staff and upgrade curriculum materials and play equipment, and to 
prepare for future emergencies.
  Further, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services approved 
child care waivers for $60 million so that parents were provided with 
vouchers for 60 days for much-needed child care services while working 
or looking for work. These waivers lifted Federal requirements for 
State matching funds and went directly to the States to administer 
their Child Care and Development Funds. There was a huge bottleneck 
with this process and numerous centers and parents were unaware of 
these resources. Further, many parents that received these vouchers 
were unable to find operational child care facilities.
  I applaud the efforts of the Initiative fonned in Mississippi and am 
thankful that the Department of Health and Human Services responded 
quickly to the affected states. June 1st marks the beginning of 2007 
hurricane season. We must be sure to let families know that the Federal 
Government is doing its part to ensure that critical services are 
available in the event of another large-scale disaster or even a major 
terrorist attack. Enactment of the Emergency Child Care Services Act is 
the way to do it.

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