In response to the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) Executive Director Dr. Lynette M. Fraga released the following statement:
“The President’s FY 2021 Budget falls well short of meeting families’ needs. The proposal lacks the robust, long-term investment the child care system needs to ensure our children thrive. In addition, the very same families who struggle to access child care, are hit hard by the proposed Budget’s plans to cut or weaken the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), and other critical safety net programs.
As Child Care Aware® of America’s research shows, the price of high-quality child care continues to increase. Flat-funding the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), as the President’s FY 2021 Budget proposes to do, will only result in fewer families being able to access high-quality child care. This is unacceptable.
Similar to last year, the President’s Budget does include a one-time investment of $1 billion in competitive grants for states to grow the supply of child care, . This inadequate amount of resources is accompanied by a decrease or elimination in support for other programs that support education and child care, such as Preschool Development Grants, the Child Care Means Access for Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program, and the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program.
The President’s FY 2021 Budget is not the vision for the child care system that CCAoA hopes to see. Congress should reject the proposal and instead prioritize robust funding for programs and services benefitting children and struggling families. CCAoA again asks Congress to provide an additional $5 billion in funding for Child Care Development Block Grants (CCDBG) in Fiscal Year 2021, building on bipartisan support for CCDBG over the last several fiscal years.
Child Care Aware® of America is dedicated to ensuring all families have access to affordable, high-quality child care. To achieve this, we support comprehensive policies that are child-centered, family-engaged, equity-driven, and community-focused.