The Care Economy

Floor Speech

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Ms. SHERRILL. Madam Speaker, I thank Chairwoman Speier for yielding. I appreciate it.

I rise today to talk about the childcare crisis facing our Nation, and by extension, our national economy.

I rise today to share the stories from working mothers in my district, to outline the disastrous impact maintaining the status quo will have for families and communities and businesses, and to instill a sense of urgency for addressing this childcare crisis, because prior to COVID, women represented over half the working people in this Nation. Over half.

So let's be clear, when working moms are losing ground, that is the American middle class losing ground. And the current reality of the American childcare system is endless waitlists for spots that may never open up.

The current reality is unreasonable costs that eat away at 20, 30, 40 percent of a working parent's paycheck.

In fact, I have a constituent who has two children in childcare and pays over the amount of their paycheck in childcare. And in over half of the States in this Nation, center-based infant care costs more than in-State college tuition. That is what is facing families today.

And the current reality is to make it work, often for families-- including my own family--the only way you make it work is with the help of grandparents or friends. So God help you, if you don't have that safety net in place.

The current reality is that too many moms are being forced to leave their jobs because they simply can't make it work. And if we don't act, too many of those moms will not be able to re-enter our workforce.

Two weeks ago, I convened a round table to have an in-depth conversation with working women in NJ-11. The stories I heard on that call mirror the experiences of women across my district, of the women serving alongside me in this legislative body, and they mirror my own experiences over the past 16 years as a working mom raising my four children.

Anyone who has had a child in the last few decades knows that the barriers to entry for childcare in America begin before your first child is even born. You are only pregnant for 9 months, but mothers have told me about 2-year waiting lists and a dearth of available options.

That situation got worse during the pandemic, with many centers closing down or going out of business.

And that is the current reality when things go according to plan.

During that round table, we heard from too many people who had changes in their lives which upended their whole childcare plan. During that round table, I heard from a professor who told me about how her search for childcare became twice as hard when she and her wife found out they were expecting twins. It got even harder than that when they were born premature and had health concerns that required in-home care.

She and her spouse were forced to make the impossible choice to cut their income in half so one of them could stay at home or to incur the astronomically high cost of in-home care. That is the catch-22 our families are facing too many times today.

I have a working mom and a councilwoman in my district who faced a similar dilemma. When she had her son, she was lucky enough to find a great childcare center with space for him, but the price of quality care was steep. She was in the position where her salary was just above the cost of care. Like far too many women, she considered leaving the workforce simply because the costs were unjustifiable. But in her case, she couldn't afford not to work. And she is lucky she didn't stop because we know that for women who quit the workforce for even 1 year, that is a 40 percent pay cut over the next 15 years.

This issue is about the family budget, the bottom line, the ability to make ends meet. And for too many families, the exorbitant costs of childcare place them just steps away from financial ruin.

My councilwoman was lucky to find good childcare near where she lived, but what happens when you move?

Well, we heard from another working mom about that. She and her husband had great daycare for their 1-year-old that they really loved. They were one of the lucky ones. Unfortunately, when they decided it was time to move, they couldn't find anywhere with space near their new home. So for months before they got off the wait list at a new center, they left their house every day at 6:30 a.m. to drop their child off at the old daycare center before starting their own long commute to work.

But even with that daycare system, she still needed help from a family member to pick up her son when the daycare center closed hours before she and her spouse finished work. And this dilemma has only gotten worse during COVID with childcare centers scaling back their hours due to workforce shortage issues.

All of these barriers come with a direct economic cost. This isn't just a woman's issue. This isn't just a children's issue. This is a critical economic issue facing our Nation.

In September alone, 26,000 women lost jobs while more than 200,000 men gained jobs. And that is not to mention the more than 300,000 women who left the workforce entirely that month.

We are leaving hundreds of billions of dollars of potential economic growth and improved GDP on the table by failing to fix this crisis and continuing to force women out of the workforce.

And we are certainly not solving the workforce crisis facing communities all across this country.

Tonight, you will hear from many of us outlining the stories that we ourselves and our constituents face, the concerns that the very real obstacles and challenges with childcare across this country are hampering too many women in the workforce. We are jumping through hoops and making tough financial decisions, calling on friends and family members just to find and maintain affordable and quality childcare. And as a result, our families are suffering.

The progress women have made in the workforce and in our society is suffering.

Our economic recovery post pandemic is suffering.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

We have the opportunity to make crucial investments in our childcare system to ensure that no family in this Nation pays more than 7 percent of their income on childcare. This budget plan represents an important start to helping working women stay in the workforce after having a child, help those who left re-enter, and keep more money in the pockets of hardworking families across this country.

And we can do all this as we ignite our economic recovery and build back better.

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Ms. SHERRILL. Will the gentlewoman yield?

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Ms. SHERRILL. Madam Speaker, it truly is. And as you know, as you chair your subcommittee and hear, I'm sure, from far too many families about as the difficulties of childcare grow, the difficulties of being a fully deployable force like our United States Navy grow.

So certainly, it is a national security issue, as well.

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