Hickenlooper, Fischer, Gillibrand, Collins Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Expand Access to Child Care for Working Families

Legislation reauthorizes the Child Care and Development Block Grant for the first time in over a decade

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper, Deb Fischer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Susan Collins introduced the bipartisan Child Care Modernization Grant Act, which will reauthorize and improve the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) to help provide quality, affordable child care to America's working families.

For over three decades, the CCDBG has been the primary federal program to help provide families with access to quality child care. Despite bipartisan support, the program has not been reauthorized since 2014.

"Affordable, quality child care is a necessity - not a luxury. Unfortunately, that is not the reality, especially in rural areas. With the Child Care Modernization Act, we will reauthorize and improve the Child Care and Development Block Grant to provide significant, positive change in child care access and quality. The CCDBG has provided working families with child care services for 30 years; we will continue to work to fund the program to ensure these changes can be implemented and continue to serve families who need child care assistance. It's time to reauthorize this important program to extend child care to more hardworking American families," said Hickenlooper, Fischer, Gillibrand, and Collins in a joint statement.

"Everywhere we go in Colorado, we hear about the need for better access to child care," said Hickenlooper. "Our work isn't done, but the Child Care Modernization Act is a big step toward every kid having the resources and tools they need to thrive."

The legislation is supported by Clayton Early Learning, Colorado Children's Campaign, Afterschool Alliance, Bipartisan Policy Center Action, Buffett Early Childhood Institute, Child Care Aware of America, Early Care and Education Consortium (ECEC), Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC), First Five Years Fund, Independent Restaurant Coalition, KinderCare Learning Companies (KLIC), Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LSIC), Low Income Investment Fund, Moms First, National Association of Counties (NACo), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), National Children's Facilities Network, Save the Children, Start Early, National Child Care Association, TOOTRis, and YMCA of the USA.

"We applaud bipartisan support for the Child Care Modernization Act as we believe this legislation is essential in ensuring access to high quality childcare services. It's essential, in every regard, for our country to continue to find ways to address the childcare crisis we are seeing across the country, and we believe this legislation is a strong starting point," said William Browning, Chief Executive Officer of Clayton Early Learning in Denver.

"The Child Care Modernization Act, if funded sufficiently, offers a meaningful opportunity to improve the Child Care and Development Block Grant. Because the bill would invest in the early childhood education workforce, improve how educators are paid, and build the supply of quality child care, NAEYC endorses this legislation, and is particularly appreciative of the bipartisan leadership of Senators Fischer, Gillibrand, Collins, and Hickenlooper to call for the funding necessary to implement it. We look forward to working with these offices and other leaders in Congress to continue to increase support and investment for policies that improve access to a quality child care system that works for children, families, educators, and our economy," said Daniel Hains, Chief Policy & Professional Advancement Officer for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

"Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC) supports the Child Care Modernization Act because it strengthens our national workforce, supports economic opportunity, and ensures our country stays globally competitive. This bill takes important steps to provide additional flexibility to states as they seek to address critical child care supply challenges in communities across America while giving working parents choice in how they select care for their children while they participate in the workforce," said Nicole M. Riehl, President & CEO of Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC).

For a full list of statements of support, click HERE.

Specifically, the Child Care Modernization Act will:

• Strengthen child care services by moving states to use cost estimation models for setting provider rates, which will adequately compensate child care providers.

• Enables working parents to choose child care services that best suit their family's needs by allowing states to develop a mixed delivery system of child care and preschool for children up to age 5 and before-school, after-school, and summer care for school-age children.

• Increase child care supply by introducing a new grant program within the CCDBG framework to assist providers in creating and expanding the supply, ensuring child care facilities are designed and equipped to keep children healthy and safe.

• Improve access for working families by allowing state child care plans to support more families and communities, reducing barriers to the program, and increasing and affordability to serve more families.

• Assist in-home and rural child care providers by providing technical assistance, including strategies to support best business practices, and the development and use of shared services initiatives such as family child care home provider networks.

• Reduce burdens on child care providers by ensuring states review their state and local health and safety requirements to determine redundancies and oversights that may exist.

The text of the bill can be found HERE.

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