WASHINGTON, DC — In response to the child care proposals in the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA), executive director Dr. Lynette M. Fraga released the following statement:
“CCAoA welcomes the Administration’s attention to child care in the President’s Budget joining the long-standing conversation around the importance of high-quality child care. Unfortunately, this proposal falls far short of what families need. Robust, long-term investment in child care should fund state and local systems that support a high-quality early learning environment, such as Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (CCR&R) that act as a hub to help support families navigating child care in their state.
The lack of quality child care is a big problem that requires a big, bipartisan solution, and the Administration’s proposal doesn’t go far enough. Parents need help. This is especially true for low-income children: currently, only 1 in 6 families who qualify for child care assistance receive it. Many families struggle to afford quality child care, making too much for assistance and too little to afford the market rate. CCAoA asks Congress to provide an additional $5 billion in funding for Child Care Development Block Grants (CCDBG) in Fiscal Year 2020, on commendable bipartisan support for CCDBG in the last two fiscal years.
The President’s Budget calls for a one-time, $1 billion down payment, rather than long-term federal investment in CCDBG programs that we know work well for children and families. In addition, this insufficient proposal would be coupled with harmful cuts to critical programs, such as:
- Proposed reductions to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant
- Proposed cuts to and work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients
- Proposed major spending cuts to Medicaid
- Proposed changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and other dependent credits.
Child Care Aware® of America is dedicated to ensuring all families have access to affordable, high-quality child care. However, far too many families can neither gain access to nor afford child care, which leads to negative economic impacts. Many of these same families rely on Medicaid, SNAP, and other federal programs that are facing steep cuts in the President’s Budget for FY 2020.
Child care is not a partisan issue. We urge both Congress and the Administration to support an additional $5 billion in funding for FY 2020 so that families get the child care help they need and deserve.
To learn more about Child Care Aware® of America’s advocacy efforts visit usa.childcareaware.org or follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook using #ChildCareWorks.
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About Child Care Aware® of America
Child Care Aware® of America is our nation’s leading voice for child care. We work with state and local Child Care Resource and Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) and other community partners to ensure that all families have access to quality, affordable child care. To achieve our mission, we lead projects that increase the quality and availability of child care, offer comprehensive training to child care professionals, undertake research, and advocate for child care policies that improve the lives of children and families. To learn more, visit usa.childcareaware.org. Follow us on Twitter @USAChildcare and on Facebook at facebook.com/usachildcare.
