[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 37 (Monday, September 18, 2000)]
[Pages 2028-2029]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Need for Congressional Action on Quality Child Care and 
After-School Opportunities

September 11, 2000

    Today the Urban Institute released a report highlighting the 
struggle working parents face in trying to provide supervised care for 
their children before and after school. The report found that over 4 
million children of working mothers ages 6 to 12 were regularly without 
any adult supervision when they were not in school. While the report 
highlights that child care patterns for schoolchildren differ greatly 
from community to

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community, one thing is clear: Far too many children have no care when 
they are not in school. Millions of children without care in the hours 
after school are in harm's way--we know that crime and victimization 
rates among school-age children are highest in the after-school hours. 
The report also highlights research showing that high-quality after-
school programs can give school-age children access to academic and 
enrichment activities that lead to improved student achievement and 
better behavior.
    It is clear from this report that we need to do a much better job of 
providing working parents with access to affordable quality child care 
or after-school opportunities for their schoolchildren. That is why I 
call on Congress to respond to the needs of working parents for more 
help. I ask Congress to accept my budget proposal to invest $1 billion 
in the 21st Century Community Learning Center program to provide over 2 
million children with after-school opportunities. I also ask that 
Congress invest in child care options that can be used to provide child 
care for children up to age 13, expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax 
Credit to help over 8 million families pay for child care, and boost the 
Child Care and Development Block Grant by an additional $817 million.

 Note: This statement was made available by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on September 8 but was embargoed for release until 12:01 a.m., 
September 11.