OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Childcare is Infrastructure

Floor Speech

Date: July 1, 2020
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Minors and Children

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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, the Moving Forward Act recognizes that childcare is infrastructure.

Central to rebuilding our economy, stabilizing our workforce, and educating our children, childcare is a public good, supporting more than $99 billion a year in economic activity.

But we have not treated it as such. Ninety-six percent of childcare professionals are women, and 40 percent are women of color, and they are chronically underpaid. Costs for families are high, creating barriers, especially from women, from entering and staying in the workforce.

The pandemic has pushed this vital sector to its breaking point, and we cannot afford to let it fail. This bill creates a grant program to renovate and modify childcare facilities, helping them to reopen safely. It invests in providers and in our Nation's children.

Childcare is the foundation for building an inclusive economy, and now is the time to invest in our future. I urge a ``yes'' vote on this legislation.

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