[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15010]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 URGING A STRONG FUNDING COMMITMENT TO THE CHILD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT 
                            BLOCK GRANT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 17, 2014

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I want to express my strong support of this 
welcome bipartisan reauthorization of the Child Care and Development 
Block Grant Act--an act first championed by my friend and mentor 
Senator Chris Dodd. But I also think we need to go further as an 
institution to support families with the high costs of this critical 
care.
  We all know that, given the realities of today's workforce, quality 
child care is both a necessity in today's economy, and very expensive. 
It is often a family's biggest expense, bigger even than their 
mortgage. Families living in poverty pay almost a third of their 
income--30 percent--on this care.
  The Child Care and Development block grant--CCBDG for short--is the 
only federal support available to offset the high costs of child care 
for low-income families. It helps children in working families have 
access to the quality care they need to learn and thrive in life later 
on.
  But if anything, we are moving in the wrong direction in terms of 
covering eligible children. In the poorest families in the United 
States, only one in six eligible children receives child care 
assistance. And, at a time when nearly one in five working mothers with 
very young children are working low-wage jobs, our commitment to these 
families has dwindled.
  Since 2006, over 250,000 eligible children have lost access to CCDBG-
funded child care. The monthly average of children receiving this aid 
has fallen to its lowest levels since 1998. And because of budget cuts, 
many states have seen waiting lists grow and rates for providers 
plummet. That means less quality care.
  I support the new requirements in this reauthorization--They include 
conforming to state health and safety standards, unannounced on-site 
monitoring visits, and criminal background checks for providers. But 
these requirements will cost money. And according to the states, 
without additional funding, the number of families who receive this aid 
could be cut by as much as 20 percent.
  Mr. Speaker, time and again families all across this nation have told 
us that we can make a positive difference for them by facilitating 
access to quality child care.
  Countless educational studies have stressed the importance of good 
care at an early age for children. And countless economic studies have 
told us that the return on these sorts of investments, in our kids and 
our future, are amazing.
  So I urge all of my colleagues to support this bipartisan 
reauthorization today. And I also urge them to match this vote with a 
strong budgetary commitment to CCDBG, and other critical child care 
investments, in the future.

                          ____________________