Menendez, Booker Co-Sponsor Comprehensive Child Care and Early Learning Bill to Ensure Families Have Access to Affordable, High-Quality Child Care

Statement

U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker today joined the introduction of the Child Care for Working Families Act, a comprehensive early learning and child care bill to ensure affordable, high-quality child care for working families across the country.

"All of us know working parents who are truly desperate to find good child care they can actually afford so they can earn a living knowing their kids are safe and learning," said Sen. Menendez. "This investment in expanding access to affordable, quality child care and pre-school is a must-do for working families, their children and our collective future."

"As other developed nations invest in families and children through supporting affordable, accessible child care programs, too many working families here in the United States are struggling to get ahead, with an outsized part of their income going to pay for quality care for their kids," said Sen. Booker. "This bill will help working families by expanding access to affordable, quality child care and ensuring that we are setting up all of our kids for long-term success."
The Child Care for Working Families Act would create a federal-state partnership to ensure families making less than 150 percent of their state's median income do not pay more than seven percent of their income on child care. The bill also supports access to high-quality preschool programs for low- and moderate-income three- and four-year olds. Finally, the bill would support our nation's child care workforce by significantly improving wages and training for teachers and caregivers.

The bill was introduced by Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and also co-sponsored by Senators Hirono (D-Hawaii), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Feinstein (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

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