▶ 0:08:52Good morning. The subcommittee on early childhood, elementary, and secondary education will come to order. I note that a quorum is present. Without objection, the chair is authorized to call recess at any time. Child care is essential to helping working parents thrive and our local economies grow. At the same time, child care can be exceedingly expensive, and the cost is only climbing.
▶ 0:09:16According to a 2024 data analysis by Child Care Aware of America, my home state of California, has the third highest cost of infant care in the country, $22,628 annually for center-based care. US Department of Labor data from 2022 demonstrates that families spend between and 16% of their median income on full day care for one child.
▶ 0:09:44One analysis of 2024 costs found the national average price of care to be $13,128. I think most parents would agree this is simply unsustainable. And while cost is one obstacle, so is access. Using 2019 data, the bipartisan policy center calculated the first known estimate of the national gap in child care.
▶ 0:10:07That is roughly 11 million children needed child care, but the national supply only created 7.8 million slots, creating a 31.2% child care gap. The child care and development block grant is the federal program governing child care programs for low-income working families.
▶ 0:10:28The block grant program exists to help working families access affordable child care, giving them the freedom to remain in the workforce and increase their economic opportunity. One solution to the problem of childcare affordability and access. Choice is a pillar of the program, giving parents the freedom to make both lifestyle and economic decisions that best meet their individual families needs.
▶ 0:10:52When choice is limited, either circumstantially through a lack of child care slots as rural areas disproportionately feel, or because grants and contracts are given priority over family decision-making, those families and our economy suffer. Worker support is another pillar of the block grant program with multiaceted economic benefit. Child care helps parents remain in the workforce, which meets the needs of American industry in light of a national workforce participation rate that is currently just 62.4%.
▶ 0:11:214% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the work requirements of the block grant program also help parents and families grow their economic opportunity and realize financial freedom, often helping low-income families move beyond the need for a federal safety net and thrive independent of government support. Together, families, businesses, and our communities see boosted economic growth as a result.
▶ 0:11:45The Block Crank program is a great support for those least likely to access and afford child care, but it alone cannot solve the problem most parents in America feel. As I mentioned earlier, child care can be very expensive to provide. Plain and simple. The high standards and health, safety, and ch and caregiver uh to child ratios are necessary to provide for the needs of our children and give parents peace of n mind, but they come at a significant cost.
▶ 0:12:11There's also a threshold beyond which parents can just no longer afford to pay for care, which explains why some parents, particularly moms have to leave the workforce to the detriment of our businesses, local economies, and the families themselves. The differential between the cost of providing care and what parents can afford is so vast that no one entity can provide all the needed resources, including the federal government. We we don't have to look back too far to see clear proof of this.
▶ 0:12:39During and after the COVID pandemic, the federal government provided unprecedented funding to the child care sector. All told, pandemic era legislation increased regular child care block grant funding by nearly 300%. And while this additional federal spending of taxpayer dollars may have kept child care providers open, it actually seems to have done little to address the affordability and sustainability of the child care market. Cost to families are still exorbitant.
▶ 0:13:08Providers are fighting for their needed workforce. A significant care gap remains and employers see the effect a lack of child care has on their business. The only reasonable approach to addressing the affordability and sustainability challenges facing the child care sector is through public private partnership. Many examples exist throughout the country and today we are privileged to hear testimony from policy experts and state leaders who are tackling this economic challenge head on.
▶ 0:13:38From statewide initiatives to local investments to muchneeded policy reforms, we can inform and encourage our communities to think creatively about modernizing our child care sector toward affordable and sustainable solutions. With that, I yield to the ranking member for an opening statement. Thank you, Mr. chairman and thank you to the witnesses for being here today and bringing your your expertise and experience.
▶ 0:14:02For years, I've heard from parents with young children that have reliable child care that that having reliable child care makes all other work possible. A majority of families with children under the age of six need some form of child care. And in most households, all of the adults are working. In fact, all available parents are in the workforce for about 69% of children under the age of six.
▶ 0:14:25And of course, when kids get older, they still need before and after school care and uh in and extended learning opportunities or they will have the gaps uh that that really challenge families as well. But despite this overwhelming need, childcare remains both expensive and scarce. It's something every witness here today included in their testimony and in today's economy, parents must often juggle multiple responsibilities to make ends meet.
▶ 0:14:51Too many families today are struggling with higher prices at prices at the grocery store, skyrocketing costs for health care and housing. Child care is a necessity for the majority of American families with children. And in many places across the country, it's more expensive than housing or instate college tuition. So this forces families to make impossible choices. Do they pay for rent, utilities, food, and healthcare? Do they pay for child care?
▶ 0:15:16And in too many cases, families settle for lower quality care or may decide to leave the workforce entirely, jeopardizing their financial stability and future opportunities for their children. This issue is especially acute in my home state of Oregon, where the hurdles are both supply and affordability. And I speak with many Oregonians, often women, who are limited by the lack of access to child care. But it isn't just women, it's families, and it's the business community as well.
▶ 0:15:43Earlier this year, I held a town hall meeting in Clatskani, which is a rural city, about 1,700 people, very rural, where the Head Start Center is the only child care available in the entire city. And on Oregon's coast, the limited options for child care prevent the coastal towns from expanding and thriving when families have to turn down jobs there because there's no child care available.
▶ 0:16:05The Oregon legislature created a childare infrastructure fund in 2023 to help expand child care options, but the funding is just a drop in the bucket compared to what is truly needed to meet the demand. The lack of affordable care limits opportunities, creates stress for families, and also holds back the economy. Childcare challenges for parents and caregivers in the workforce force cost the economy an estimated $122 billion each year in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue.
▶ 0:16:36Oregon alone loses about $1.4 billion each year. And these numbers reflect the missed econ economic potential as parents and particularly mothers are forced to leave their jobs or reduce their working hours. When parents cannot work because they do not have reliable child care, businesses lose, skilled workers, and the economy suffers. And despite the high cost of child care, care providers are also struggling.
▶ 0:17:02The early care and education workforce is overwhelmingly composed of women, particularly women of color. Childare workers am are among the lowest paid sectors, and many childare providers have little or no access to other workplace benefits like healthcare. It's unacceptable that the people who are caring for our nation's youngest barely a make a living wage and have stability in their own lives. And I've spoken with childcare workers who can't afford childcare for their own children.
▶ 0:17:29The child care workforce is essential to our society, yet their compensation does not reflect the importance of their work. As Dr. Freriedman included in her testimony, the root of the child care crisis is that we are relying on the private market to solve a problem it cannot. And I know the chairman mentioned public private partnerships and that's going to be part of the testimony today.
▶ 0:17:51That might work in some communities, but there are many communities in in Oregon and across the country where these do not have the ability or resources to do that. Without bold and sustained federal investment, child care costs will continue to rise and the workforce that provides the care will continue to struggle. We know that investing in child care helps address the needs of children, families, and providers. And we also know that it is a good investment.
▶ 0:18:16Thank you, Miss Codella Low, who you wrote in your testimony that for every $1 invested in early childhood programs, the return is up to $17 in reduced need for public assistance, increased earnings, better educational outcomes. We know these programs work, yet we still struggle to fund them. I'm grateful that solving the child care crisis is a bipartisan issue. Democrats and Republicans alike understand the importance of caring for our nation's children.
▶ 0:18:43We have bipartisan support for a 12.4 4 billion investment in the childcare development block grant. I've been working for years on a bipartisan basis. I don't think Mr. Stefonic is here yet. We started working on the child and adult care food program years ago to streamline it and to update it. But I do need to point out that many of the policies that my colleagues in the majority are still supporting will make life harder. Uh including policies in the big ugly bill that will cut crucial programs like SNAP and Medicaid.
▶ 0:19:11These are programs that support children, family, child care centers, and the child care workforce. Thousands, millions of of children in this country get their health benefits from Medicaid and rely on SNAP. So, let's acknowledge that hurdles to fully fund child care limits e economic growth, threatens employers and small businesses, hurts working families and the early educator workforce, and because the early years are so critical to development, hinders the ability of children to meet their full potential.
▶ 0:19:40Again, it is a good investment to invest in early childhood education. It's undeniable that care is necessary for parents and the economy and the workforce, but it is also important for children. Quality child care means not just having a place to park your kids during the day so you can go to work. Child care is early learning and social and emotional development. It sets kids up for success for the rest of their lives. Frankly, child care is the best investment we can make in our future. We should invest in childare.
▶ 0:20:10We have the childare for working families act and that would cap the cost of child care at 7% of income making it affordable for all parents and also provide historic investments in the childare workforce including higher pay, better benefits and improved training opportunities. This workforce is critical to doing the the uh important work. Again, investing in childcare is an investment in our nation's future. We can and must enact policies that make child care accessible, affordable, and high quality for every family.
▶ 0:20:39The cost of inaction is great, and families, workers, and the economy cannot wait any longer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to the discussion, and I yield back. Pursuant to committee rule 8C, all members who wish to insert written statements into the record may do so by submitting them to the committee clerk electronically in Microsoft Word format by 5:00 PM, 14 days after this hearing. And without objection, the hearing record will remain open for 14 days to allow such statements and other extraneous material noted during the hearing to be submitted for the official hearing record.
▶ 0:21:08I know that some of our colleagues who are not permanent members of this subcommittee may be waving on for the purpose of today's hearing. I will now introduce our witnesses. Our first witness is Mrs. Caitlyn Kodella Low, the managing director of human capital for the bipartisan policy center here in Washington DC. And to introduce our second witness, I'd like to recognize the gentleman from Indiana, Representative Mesmer. Well, thank you, Chairman Kylie. It's my honor and privilege to introduce the Honorable Todd D.
▶ 0:21:35Barton, mayor of the city of Crawford'sville in the great state of Indiana. Mayor Barton has been an excellent leader of his community and I'm eager eager for him to share how they can apply the successes in Crawford'sville on a larger scale. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Mesmer. Our third witness is Dr. Dr. Ruth Friedman, a senior fellow for the Century Foundation, also here in DC. And our fourth witness is Miss Celia Hartman Sims, the president and founder of the ABC Darian Group in Houston, Texas.
▶ 0:22:09We thank the witnesses for being here today, and we look forward to your testimony. Pursuant to committee rules, I would ask that you each limit your oral presentation to a threeminut summary of your written statement. As committee members have many questions for you, the clock will countdown from three minutes. However, pursuant to committee rule 8D and committee practice, we will not cut you off cut off your testimony until you reach the 5-minute mark. I'd also like to remind the witnesses to be aware of your responsibility to provide accurate information to the subcommittee. I'll first recognize Mrs.
▶ 0:22:38Kodella Low for your testimony. Chairman Kylie, ranking member Madameichi, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Caitlyn Cadella Lo and I serve as managing director of the human capital program at the bipartisan policy center. Child care is more than a family issue. It's a foundational component of our economic infrastructure. Yet providers are stretched thin, operating on razor thin margins with limited capacity to grow or improve quality without raising prices.
▶ 0:23:07Twothirds of families, according to BPC polling, are already paying the most they can afford. This broken market areo is holding back families, businesses, and our broader economy. Addressing it is a necessary step towards building a stronger, more competitive workforce. American families are not a one-sizefits-all. They differ in geography, schedule, culture, income, and every day, parents navigate complex decisions to do what's best for their children.
▶ 0:23:33As a working mom of two small children, I know firsthand that there is no more personal or critical choice than deciding how and with whom your child will be cared for. At BPC, our national survey consistently shows that parents prioritize trust and flexibility when choosing child care. For some, that means center-based care. For others, it's a neighbor, a relative, a homebased provider. And others, staying at home with their child is the right decision for them. Federal policy should support, not limit the choices parents must make.
▶ 0:24:02Child care is not just a family issue. Childare is a workforce issue and a critical component to our economic infrastructure. Our economy loses more than $120 billion dollar every year due to breakdowns in the child care system from lost earnings, missed work, and reduced productivity. Approximately 71% of all children under the age of five in the US live in a household where all parents work.
▶ 0:24:2858% of parents report major disruptions in work because they couldn't find affordable, reliable child care. And today, the average cost of child child care exceeds $10,000 per child. And it's more than public college tuition in most states, more than the cost of rent in all 50. Employers are paying the price. Child care challenges lead to higher absenteeism, lower retention, and difficulty recruiting talent. For small business and frontline industries in particular, child care is no longer a nice to have.
▶ 0:24:58It's a competitive necessity. If we want to grow our labor force, close talent gaps, and build the best economy in the world, then childare is not an optional. It's essential. The federal government has provided support for families through CCDBG, and that funding is the cornerstone of our nation's child care system. This program has helped ensure parents are able to make ends meet and access the child care that meets their needs. However, the system was last updated more than a decade ago, and that system must modernize to meet the needs of today's families.
▶ 0:25:29BPC has long advocated for smart policy updates that can make the system stronger, and drive innovation. We believe targeted reforms can expand access, improve affordability, preser preserve family choice while also strengthening the workforce in the economy. Modernization should focus on enabling more parents to work, and support multiple care options. recognize that child care is essential infrastructure that underpins both today's labor force and the development of tomorrow's workforce.
▶ 0:25:56It's through that lens that BPC has launched the Commission on the American Workforce to create a bipartisan strategy to strengthen the workforce, expand economic opportunity, and ensure the United States remains competitive. Child care's critical is a critical component of the commission's work because, as we've stated, without stable child care for families, our workforce and thus our economy breaks. Childare is not just a personal decision. It's a national priority. It touches every part of our economy.
▶ 0:26:24And yet, for far too many families, our current system makes feel like we are being asked to solve an impossible equation. I often describe child care as a three-legged stool. Access, quality, and affordability. Each leg essential, and yet achieving all three at once remains elusive for most parents and equally challenging for policymakers. When one leg is missing, the whole system becomes unstable. families, employers, and the broader economy are paying the price.
▶ 0:26:49We have a responsibility to steady that stool and through smart policy and targeted reforms and bipartisan cooperation, we can build a system that supports the workforce of today and the workforce of tomorrow. And the good news is there is bipartisan momentum and I want to thank you all for your leadership on that. The bipartisan policy st center stands ready to support the committee in advancing practical lasting solutions that reflect the needs of the workforce and the economic demands.
▶ 0:27:19We look forward to working with you. Thank you very much. Thanks very much. Mayor Barton, you're recognized for your testimony. Chairman Kylie, ranking member Bonachini Bon Bon Bonamichi and members of the committee. I want to thank you for inviting me to testify here today. My name is Todd Barton and I serve as the mayor of Crawford'sville, Indiana. Today I'm here to share our community's journey in addressing the critical shortage of affordable, highquality child care, a challenge that has deeply affected our workforce and economic potential.
▶ 0:27:50Early in my tenure, through annual visits with local employers, we repeatedly heard the same concern. A lack of child care was keeping people out of the workforce or reducing their productivity. We confirmed through confirmed this through local and statewide studies, one of which showed our community was losing nearly $8 million annually in business impact alone due to childcare related issues. It was clear child care wasn't just a family issue. It was an economic issue.
▶ 0:28:20In response, we formed a child care task force in collaboration with county leaders, employers, and the McGomery County Community Foundation. That task force evolved into the McGomery County Early Early Childhood Coalition, which now leads our efforts to create an accessible, highquality early education system. The coalition's five strategic goals are to improve education, accessibility, affordability, program quality, and support for child care providers.
▶ 0:28:51Our initiatives have been wide ranging. We launched Camp Milligan, a full-day summer program for school-aged children. We hired a full-time early learning director to support child care providers, created professional development opportunities for educators, and improved affordability for working parents by building sustainability and sustainability funding into our A centerpiece of our effort is the McGomery County Early Learning Center, which opened earlier this year with 124
▶ 0:29:22new child care seats. This $5 million project was made possible by an unprecedented partnership of 16 entities across government, business, and It has already increased our child care capacity by over 30%. and is helping us recruit and retain workers in an era of strong local economic growth.
▶ 0:29:44Ultimately, we've come to understand that early learning is not only critical for today's workforce, but essential for shaping the workforce of tomorrow. We are proud of the model we built in Crawford'sville, a datadriven, community-led, and fully collaborative approach that we believe can serve as a template for other rural communities. But to sustain this scale of work, we need strong federal support.
▶ 0:30:08Programs like the child care development block grant and employer provided child care credit are essential tools that we need at our disposal. These programs will help working families stabilize our workforce and invest in the next generation. Thank you for the opportunity to share our story and I look forward to your questions. Thanks very much. Dr. Friedman, you're recognized for your testimony. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me to testify today.
▶ 0:30:39I spent 25 years working to increase the high quality uh early learning programs and access to them. most recently as director of the HHS Office of Child Care for the Biden Harris administration where I oversaw the 12 billion federal child care program known as CCDBG or CCDF as well as overseeing the 53 billion in childcare COVID relief funding. As director, I spoke regularly with providers, state agencies, tribes, and territories about their child care challenges.
▶ 0:31:09I heard about the CCDF program and how important it was and the successes of the pandemic relief funding in stabilizing a child care sector and lowering family costs during a very turbulent time. But they also made clear we have a much bigger nationwide child care crisis. Put simply, parents can't find or afford the child care they need and providers can't charge high enough fees to stay afloat. There are three main interrelated problems fueling this crisis.
▶ 0:31:39First, there isn't enough child care to meet the demand. So, families struggle to find care that fits their work hours and their family needs. Child care for infants and toddlers, care for children with disabilities, care during non-traditional work hours and in rural areas is particularly scarce. Second, child care is a major financial strain for families. In almost all states, families pay more for child care than housing or food. And the cost of child care is rising faster than inflation.
▶ 0:32:06The high prices hurt family budgets, make family life harder, and cause undermployment and unstable employment. And third, providers, most of whom are small businesses, are struggling to stay afloat and stay staffed because they can't afford to meet the rising costs of labor, rent, insurance, and everyday goods. In most communities, the business model only works at all by paying child care staff very low wages with few benefits.
▶ 0:32:32and problems recruiting and retaining childare workers has become particularly acute. Families, businesses, and America's economy are paying the price of this reality to the tune of billions of dollars in lost wages, productivity, and growth every The root of the child care crisis is that we are relying on the private market to solve a problem it cannot. The market doesn't provide enough child care to meet family needs because the true cost of care is greater than prices parents can pay.
▶ 0:33:03Providers can't address a workforce shortage without improving compensation. And better compensation and stable operations aren't possible without significant tuition hikes, and parents are already maxed out. The CCDF program, while absolutely critical for the 900,000 families who get assistance and the millions more who benefit from its quality initiatives, is neither funded nor designed to fix the scope of the childcare problems we're discussing today.
▶ 0:33:29Likewise, the Head Start program and the preschool development grant program help with the situation, but they also aren't intended to address the scope of the problem. Solving the child care crisis requires significant new federal and state investments comprehensively directed at staff compensation and building a stable supply with a range of child care options without the cost falling to parents.
▶ 0:33:53Ranking member Scott and Senator Murray have led the way with a transformative plan for the type of child care reform American families really need. An approach like the childcare for working families act would address supply issues and re reduce costs for millions of families while building on the flexibility of the current system.
▶ 0:34:13It would eliminate child care as a barrier to parents stable employment families economic stability and parent and child wellbeing giving parents much more freedom to raise strong families. Recent federal proposals to child care and the tax code will not solve the child care crisis because they do not they do little about parent costs or supply issues and do nothing for the childare workforce shortage. Worse, we're going in the wrong direction in three important ways.
▶ 0:34:41First, the reconciliation bill is going to exacerbate the child care workforce shortage, reduce supply, and make it harder for many families to afford childare. Second, political leadership at HHS has indicated to some stakeholders they intend to get rid of the 2024 rule that finally aligned the CCDF program with federal statute to pay providers on time and more fairly and when implemented would improve parent choice and help stabilize provider And third, Doge pushed out
▶ 0:35:11half of the federal office of childare staff this spring. Without adequate staffing, federal funds will not go as far and ultimately child care will be less safe, harder to find, and more expensive. Our country's approach of relying primarily on a parent funded, broken market fails families, hurts businesses, and harms America's economy. This is a solvable problem, but will require transformative investment for America's families. Thank you. Thanks very much, Ms. Sims, you're recognized for your testimony.
▶ 0:35:42Uh, Chairman Kylie, ranking many ranking member Bonamichi, and members of the subcommittee, thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you all today. To get straight to the point, as you've heard by the other witnesses, parents of young children can't work without child care. And because child care is directly tied to the ability of parents to work, child care is inextricably tied to employers being able to hire and communities being able to thrive. Breakdowns in child care result in parents missing out on income and loss productivity for employers.
▶ 0:36:11K12 school closures during COVID made clear that parents with young children need child care to work. The child care sector, unlike K12, understood this, kept its doors open for families, and demonstrated the truly essential service that childare provides for workers, employers, and the broader economy. Childcare access creates economic opportunity at the individual level and economic development at the local level. With limited availability of child care, towns lose residents and businesses.
▶ 0:36:42A rural North Carolina county I recently visited described how for multiple reasons postcoid, it lost over half of its center-based care and 80% of its family childare homes. With so little care now available, residents are having to find child care in a more populous neighboring county. If people feel they have to go to another county for child care, they may decide it better all around to seek work in that neighbor neighboring county. Small communities can't survive, let alone grow, without accessible child care.
▶ 0:37:11Nothing, however, is more personal to parents than deciding with whom to leave their child when they go to work. And without a doubt, as others have said, the number one criterion for parents in choosing a childare provider is trust. Parents aren't simply looking for the cheapest childare arrangement. They will sacrifice time, convenience, and money to ensure their children are in quality, safe environments.
▶ 0:37:32Given the very personal nature of making a child care decision, parents have varying child care preferences, indicating strong support for our nation's mixed delivery system of child care. One that is inclusive of centers, family child care homes, faith-based providers, for-profit, nonprofit, public, and private providers. No two families or children are alike. What is best for one family will not be best for another family. Parents, not government, are and should remain the ones who choose what is best for their child.
▶ 0:38:02Respecting parent choice in child care is the core tenant of the federal childare and development block grant and the reason the program has garnered such strong bipartisan support over the years. CCDBG should remain the federal government's hallmark childare program to support America's working families. Affordability, however, is the greatest barrier for working families to access child care if they want need and want. But why, people ask, is child care so expensive? People, plain and simple.
▶ 0:38:30Staff salaries are by far the greatest budget line item for a childare provider. Yes, a provider might reduce the number of teachers in classrooms, but fewer teachers in classrooms is bad for child safety. To be sure, there are, as in any regulated sector, rules and regulations that can and should be either cut or streamlined to reduce costs, but teachers cannot be reduced.
▶ 0:38:52Tackling childcare affordability for working families is a public private endeavor, including government, federal, state, and local, parents, businesses, and religious and other community organizations. As others have discussed, local communities are addressing the childcare access and affordability problem in varying ways and designing solutions for their local contacts. At the federal government, at the federal level, parents and businesses show support for a multi-pronged federal strategy to assist working parents afford childare.
▶ 0:39:22The good news is that all of these solutions exist that all these solutions they support are existing federal programs. Thus, we don't need new federal programs to address childcare affordability. We need to continue to support and promote the programs we presently have, including child care vouchers provided under CCDBG, the federal government's hallmark federal child care program.
▶ 0:39:43Federal tax credits, including the employer provided child tax credit, the child independent care tax credit, and dependent care assistant programs, all of which are presently included for enhancement under the House and Senate reconciliation bills. and three, a host of current federal programs under numerous agencies, including the Agricultural Department, SBA, that can be used to expand child care in underserved communities.
▶ 0:40:07In closing, for working families, child care is a mustave, not a nice to have, and is a service that pays immediate economic benefit for individuals being able to work, employers being able to hire, and communities being able to grow. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today, and I look forward to your Thank you very much. Under committee rule 9, we will now question witnesses under the fiveminute rule. Uh the representative from Guam, Mr. Moan is recognized first. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and ranking member for hosting this important hearing today.
▶ 0:40:36And access to highquality, affordable child care is important to many parents and provides the flexibility needed to participate in the workforce. Child care benefits families and communities alike, boasting local economies and empowering parents. Block grant approval is hard to receive because the threshold is so low. Workingclass families make too much money to qualify. Even if slightly above the minimum wage, you're disqualified. Households of two is at 62,71184.
▶ 0:41:08And this forces parents to quit their jobs to access CCDBG payments. Miss Sims, something I've I've heard several times from my constituents is that the current system is broken and encourage encourages reliance on public assistance and more than up uplifting families. Uh thresholds for assistance relative to incomes on Guam sometimes incentivize working parents to leave the workforce rather than participate in it.
▶ 0:41:36So, how can Congress reform these systems so that public assistance goes hand in hand with social mobility and not against it? Uh, and Miss Cardella Lo, you'll follow. Same question, please. M. Um, thank you for the question. I mean, as you mentioned, um, the income eligibility, the federal statute limits that to a state. You can't make more than 75% of a state median income. Um, what's important is to continue, I think, the long by uh bipartisan investments in the childcare development block grant.
▶ 0:42:06is that funding has increased. It first doubled under the first Trump administration. Has continued to double. I mean to to continue to increase ever since. As more funds are in there, it has allowed states to increase their eligibility up against that cap.
▶ 0:42:19What's also important, we made some significant changes in the last reauthorization of CCDBG was to ensure that there was a graduated phase out so that you're not creating a cliff effect so that if a parent who is presently receiving childcare assistance makes a dollar more that all of a sudden they automatically lose their assistance. You want that to stair step downward. um that encourages families to stay in the workforce, but not just stay in the workforce, but to feel like they can take a, you know, a promotion and a raise and continue to move forward.
▶ 0:42:52Yeah. Um I would say what Celia said is absolutely correct. Um there has been increased funding. Bipart Policy Center has supported funding increases for CCBG. I think one of the major factors of this is allowing for parents to make choices that ma that are right for them and also um allow for parents to metriculate in and out of the economy in a way that allows them to get the training necessary to get on to the new jobs
▶ 0:43:22or to um continue in um you know any matter that allow allows them to have stability in the system. Thank you both. Uh, Mayor Burton, your city is similar in size to some of Guam's villages, and I think our weather might be a bit different, though. In your testimony, you talked about how operating a childcare business is not economically feasible in smaller communities based on your experience and success.
▶ 0:43:48Uh, how can Congress empower working families and small communities across America? Thank you for the question. And and I think you're correct. The weather is probably not similar. Uh yeah, I think you know for us it's figuring out how to bridge those gaps and understanding that in a rural community the the economies of scale are not in our favor and that's the biggest challenge that we faced in operating childcare centers in our community. Um and it's finding ways for everyone to come together.
▶ 0:44:17You face the reality that that government can't solve this alone. Uh private operators can't solve this alone. And in most cases philanthropy or nonprofits can't solve this. So, it's really laying out that business model and looking for those gaps and and plugging sustainability into the model. Thank you. And finally, um, Miss Low, uh, you began your testimony with the importance of parental choice. I think it's important to remember that although we are one nation, we have many cultures in our country.
▶ 0:44:45That's especially true in places like the US territories. Can you elaborate more on how parental choice benefits communities across our country? Yeah, I think the um the reality is that parents are living very different lives from their neighbors and they need to be able to to plug into a child care system that works for the needs that they have. My neighbor works overnights and you know there are very few child care centers that can help to um to deal with that challenge, right?
▶ 0:45:13And so if we are only thinking about a one-sizefits-all solution, we are not thinking about the vast majority of our economy and the needs that each individual might have. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Thank you very much. Ranking member Bonamichi is recognized for Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you all for your excellent testimony. Um, across Oregon, like most of the country, there's an inadequate supply of appropriately regulated child care, especially for infants and toddlers. I have a friend who has twin grandbabies.
▶ 0:45:44Can you imagine? I mean, this like automatically doubles the cost and the challenge. Uh, and I mentioned even before the pandemic, the Oregon Childcare Research Partnership found that all of our 36 counties were childcare deserts, meaning there are more children uh for every available three or more children for every available slot. And the demand is far greater than the supply as we all recognize. Now, approximately half of the families in this country live in child care deserts. And there simply isn't enough to meet the demand.
▶ 0:46:13And what exists is unaffordable that we've established. Nationwide child care costs have risen about 214% since my daughter was born in 1990. I'm surprised it's not more than that from what I'm hearing. And as I mentioned, to help address this, Oregon's legislature created the childcare infrastructure fund in 2023, but again, just a drop in the bucket. At the federal level, we do not have a similar program dedicated to building out the supply of childcare. So Dr. Freriedman, welcome back to the committee.
▶ 0:46:41Uh, what policies have shown promise in increasing the supply of affordable child care? Thank you very much for the question. So, I you know, interestingly, we have seen just in the past year a slight tick up um uh in supply for the first time um uh interestingly uh a decent tick up in family child care in a few different states, California, Massachusetts, and Virginia. I don't think it's an accident. And I think this is a combination of a few different things.
▶ 0:47:11One is uh states used some of their COVID relief money to increase supply. They uh made startup grants, expansion grants. Um uh they created uh family child care support networks to try to make the business side easier for family child care.
▶ 0:47:32California for the first time um uh made health care and retirement benefits available for family child care and um we have seen some investments by states specifically aimed at trying to increase supply because they've recognized it is such a problem.
▶ 0:47:50In addition, one of the things we did in the administration that I think was very important is with CCDBG, we um decided to enforce one of its very important tenants uh which requires um uh reimbursement rates to not be so low that parents don't have access to care and states reacted by um uh increasing their reimbursement rates. Their rates for family child care were particularly low.
▶ 0:48:19In addition, we have seen more states try grants and contracts to try to address supply. Supply is a priority and I think you know what we see is when there are investments in increasing supply, they are effective. What makes me nervous is some of the state investments are already being zeroed out. There were some private investments I know in some states where we saw increases that are not part of their next year budgets. And uh you know it needs sustained investment. I I appreciate that.
▶ 0:48:48I know recruitment and retention are huge concerns. Dr. Freriedman, again, um immigrants make up about 20% of the child care workforce nationwide and in some urban areas up to 50% of the workforce. And I'm hearing from constituents in Oregon who have significant concerns about immigration enforcement as it relates to child care, particularly with, for example, TPS workers, dreamers.
▶ 0:49:11The Trump administration as well as some of my colleagues across the aisle have demonized immigrants even though uh they contribute greatly to our economy and our child care system relies on immigrant workers in many places. And unfortunately we have not been able to pass uh humane immigration reform or even the dream act to give these hardworking aspiring Americans a path to citizenship. And since 2011, child care programs were considered offlimits for immigration enforcement.
▶ 0:49:40But the president ended this policy on day one, meaning that US immigration and customs enforcement can now enter schools, daycare centers, and other locations where children spend their days. So, Dr. Freriedman, I know you're not an immigration expert, but do you agree that immigrants play an important role in the childcare sector? And if child care workers do not feel safe working in the sector, what would it take to prepare and educate thousands of new child care providers in a short period of time? Yeah, thank you.
▶ 0:50:07There's no doubt that immigrants play a large part in providing the child care in this country. And if that important provider population uh were to disappear, we would be in real trouble. Child care would um uh go away. We already are seeing that there aren't enough child care staff to keep all of the classrooms open uh in existing programs and and programs are closing down because of lack of staff.
▶ 0:50:34So, if the child care worker crisis increases, we will see child care close and become less available and more expensive. Thank you. I'm out of time. I yield back. Representative McKenzie of Pennsylvania is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to all of our testifiers here today. It's great to be talking about such an important issue uh for working families and also uh the way that it impacts our economic growth here in America.
▶ 0:51:00It's also great to see that there is broad bipartisan uh recognition of the problem. I think everybody is recognizing the problem for working families uh to access quality and affordable child care. Uh the pro the barrier that it creates for uh people going back into the workforce after they have their child and also the challenges that we face with child care providers.
▶ 0:51:22Uh we see this problem uh in my district in Pennsylvania where uh there is this mismatch uh in our local marketplace of the quality affordable accessible child care uh that people are looking for and what's available uh for working families as they try to re-enter that market. So uh great to see that. Now my questions uh I'm going to go to Ms. Sims first.
▶ 0:51:44Uh, I have legislation, House Resolution 1426, uh, which would expand the child independent care tax credit so parents can afford a broader range of child options. And I would love to hear your perspective as to why it's important that the federal policies that we actually put out give families the flexibility to choose the child care arrangements uh, that best meet their individual needs. Um, sure.
▶ 0:52:09as I mentioned in my testimony um one I think you know the tax credits and CCDBG it's all the above there's not going to be one singular program that can solve everything um and similar that is the same thing with a child care um provider there is not one pro the same provider for every parent or for every child uh there are a number of parents who have two children and one child they will put in a child care center because they understand that that child will thrive there but they may take the
▶ 0:52:39other child and want to enroll them in a family childcare home because that smaller setting is best for them. Similar faith-based providers, you know, again, trust is the number one criterion. And so, if that is your faith community, that is where you're going to seek and we want to have all of those solutions um available for our parents. But yes, it's all of the above in terms of uh the types of programs we need tax, there's tax relief, there is um the voucher program um and on the parents, there's not one singular solution.
▶ 0:53:07And so we don't want to prejudice one provider over another. Well, I appreciate that and I I agree that the importance of choice is so uh paramount across all educational opportunities and that extends to child care and uh early learning as well. So appreciate your your thoughts there. Mayor Barton, I'll go to you next. Uh you've shown great local leadership on this uh topic and I I want to commend you for everything that you've done in your local community so far.
▶ 0:53:34How could policies uh like you've put in place there uh actually reflect this choice and the individuals from families and employers in your local community? How did you work that into your solutions?
▶ 0:53:47Um all of these different thoughts from local stakeholders uh in into what you've put together just a really terrific I think we acknowledged uh you know from the very beginning that choice had to be a part of what we were offering and we were very aware that as we were in the fundraising phase and creating our early learning center we didn't want to create a situation where it was the government sanctioned child care option for our community. We wanted people to have a choice.
▶ 0:54:14So um and additionally we didn't want to lose existing childare capacity in our community. So we built into our system to not only expand capacity but to support the existing capacity which is very diverse. It's a combination of homebased, center-based, um, you know, faith-based, all those pieces coming together. And we knew that we needed that that variety and those options in our community. So, we deliberately incorporated that into our model. Thank you.
▶ 0:54:41And I I think it is a a model that what we've heard so far really uh could be replicated and expanded elsewhere. So, thank you for your leadership on this topic. Uh, finally, I'll go to Ms. low uh talking about uh that access to quality affordable child care.
▶ 0:54:58Uh we've talked a little bit so far about the challenges that providers face uh and increasing supply of of child care providers not only in terms of the facilities but also the workers there uh getting them into those positions making sure that they're earning a a wage that they can actually sustain their own families in these roles. So tell me about your thoughts on what we should be doing uh to increase supply and make it more likely that we get more child care providers online and operational. Yeah, thank you for the question.
▶ 0:55:27I think um providers as you know typically are operating on razor thin margins as we know staff is the highest cost that they are paying out and we know that in order to do make any changes to the system they almost are always faced with raising tuition rates and we know that parents most likely just cannot afford more.
▶ 0:55:48Um and so they are sort of put into an impossible equation and in in a lot of cases any um increased costs obviously are put to families and so there is um opportunities to think about what we're doing in CCDBG and allow for um federal capital investments to um to to for for excuse me for the providers to help to um sorry help to um invest
▶ 0:56:18in their facilities and um meet the needs that each of these facilities need in order to to grow and expand. Great. Well, thank you. Again, I want to thank all of you for being here today. Uh just a terrific topic. I'm glad we're focusing on it uh on this subcommittee. I'd like to thank the leadership of our our chairman. Look forward to working with everybody on this problem that we all recognize to find some great bipartisan solutions uh to address these challenges and help working families across the country. Thank you, and I yield back.
▶ 0:56:47Representative Lee of Pennsylvania is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that we all uh understand and um agree that there is a child care crisis in this country. The cost of child care, if you could even find it, pushes thousands of families into poverty every single year. In Pennsylvania, infant and toddler care costs uh an average of $14,000 per year. That's more than someone's college tuition. Uh we need child care in this country.
▶ 0:57:17We need it so that all parents and caregivers have the option to participate in the workforce and provide for their families. We need it to support children's early cognitive, social, and emotional development. Um, which we know has lasting effects uh into adulthood. We need it because as human beings, it's our moral obligation to care for one another. Uh, which some considers a radical stance. I don't, of course. We need more federal investment in child care because existing programs are quite frankly not cutting it.
▶ 0:57:46less than a third of children in my district receives subsidies uh that they're eligible for. That lays almost 7,000 children in my district uh whose families cannot afford child care and who cannot access uh subsidies. Meanwhile, the average child care worker in my district makes less than $30,000 per year. That's almost $40,000 less than the average kindergarten teacher. Uh who are also obviously grossly underpaid as a profession.
▶ 0:58:13childcare workers are overwhelmingly women, disproportionately women of color, of course. Yet, black early childhood educators still make less than 80% uh of what their white counterparts made. So, this is a crisis from every single angle. This is especially insulting considering how much of today's childcare infrastructure we owe uh to black communities and the civil rights movement. When Hit Start was first founded, rid states like Mississippi refused federal Hit Start grants, arguing that benefits to black children discriminated against white children.
▶ 0:58:43An argument that is erily similar to the current administration's rhetoric. But groups like uh child development group of Mississippi uh run by civil rights leaders and and black mothers persisted in to ensure that Head Start uh was successful. when school superintendents refused to rent out buildings uh school buildings or buses to Head Start programs, communities came together to make sure that children had a place to go and a way to get there. So, we have models of of success.
▶ 0:59:09Since then, HeadStart has served over 40 million people, including me and over, you know, 2500 children in my district uh who are enrolled right now. His start success turned uh it into a program supported across political and geographic lines. So when a leak proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services earlier this year threatened to eliminate Head Start, this broad support is why it was uh ultimately still included in the administration's budget uh request. So Dr.
▶ 0:59:36Freeman, briefly, what would happen if families uh and children, including the 2500 children in my district, uh what would happen if Head Start were cut? So if a Head Start were cut or eliminated, it would um have a number of really devastating consequences in this country. First, for the families who would be receiving Head Start, they would lose out on that very important early childhood programming.
▶ 0:59:59And the families who receive very important wraparound services, help finding jobs, help um receiving uh various source of social services would lose out on that as well. In addition, it would absolutely and immediately expand the child care crisis that we have in this country. And so you would have 750,000 families who suddenly did not have child care and would need to find it and it would have huge economic in uh impacts as well.
▶ 1:00:26Uh real quickly, earlier this year the administration closed five regional Head Start offices and Doge fired hundreds of employees within the administration for children and families. How did those office closures and employee firings impact the program? Yeah, we are already seeing uh very bad impacts from those closings. Programs, local programs are not getting the support and the answers they need.
▶ 1:00:47uh grants are coming slowly to them which is very very problematic in Head Start because they really work monthto-month with their budget and um lost an enormous amount of expertise on the local needs um uh those programs serve. Thank you. So even if Head Start is ultimately funded, if the office of Head Start and his regional offices are not staffed, it's still set up to fail. And as you pointed out in your testimony, Dr. Freriedman, even at its best, Headstart can't address the full scope of the child care crisis.
▶ 1:01:16In order to do that and remove barriers to economic growth, we have to address the persistent racial and gender wage gaps within childcare industry. We need to invest in programs like SNAP and Medicaid that over 20% of Pennsylvania's early childhood educators rely on and that House Republicans just cut in the reconciliation bill they passed. We need much more federal investment in child care. We know that for every dollar we invest in early childhood ed childhood education, we save substantially more on services that children won't need as they grow up.
▶ 1:01:45This is why we need to pass a Democrat's legislation like the Child Care for Every Community Act and Childcare for Working Families Act, which I'm looking forward to introducing with ranking member Scott in the near future. These bills would help put an end to this crisis by making sure families actually have access to child care slots, that no family spends more than 7% of their income on child care, and that all early childhood educators make a liveable wage. Thank you so much for the time and I yield back. Representative Harris of North Carolina is rep recognized. Well, thank you, Mr.
▶ 1:02:13chairman and uh for the subject matter we have today and and for this hearing and to all of you on the panel that have shared your time and your expertise. This is a very very relevant subject I think all of us are dealing with. Mayor Barton, um do you think the federal government on its own has the ability to simply spend or regulate its way out of the child care crisis that we're discussing today? That's a a good question to ask somebody in local government, I guess.
▶ 1:02:42But um I I appreciate the question and no, I don't think so. I think it takes all of us coming together and you know from the local rural perspective, right? And and I'm in a rural community. Um I think there's an understanding that the current system is broken and we talk about that a lot.
▶ 1:03:00we talk about, you know, the business model is broken, but also on the on the funding side and and I won't pretend to know what funding is available or isn't available on the federal side, but I will tell you that, you know, the current system, the the CDBG funding with it focus on vouchers, that's fantastic if you have seats. And in the rural communities, you can have a voucher there. There are vouchers out there, but there are no seats, right?
▶ 1:03:23So we have to really focus on the side of this which helps us incentivize the business model to get the seats uh so that they exist so that people can even use the vouchers that are out there. So, uh, you know, it's not possible to spend our way out of this, but it's going to take a combination of federal spending and federal focus along with state, local governments, and businesses ultimately.
▶ 1:03:46And, and I think that's the unique aspect of our model was engaging the businesses in this discussion because, you know, a reality in a real community, they are competing for workforce and everything they can do to make themselves more competitive with the business down the road, they need to be doing. And we saw that with uh you know nearsight wellness clinics on the health side and that has now spilled over to the child care side as well. Well, thank you for your answer.
▶ 1:04:11The the fact is contrary to the beliefs of those on the other side of the aisle, simply spending more federal tax tax dollars or increasing federal regulations won't solve this issue. And as a representative of a largely rural district myself, I've also seen firsthand the outsized effects that accessible child care can have on rural communities.
▶ 1:04:33And quite frankly, that was one reason I was greatly encouraged by your testimony, mayor, detailing the actions that you and other community leaders took in Montgomery County, Indiana, to establish a coalition to tackle the problem. So, I want to give you a chance for in the few minutes we have left as legislators, what can we do in our capacity to help communities like yours meet today's child care challenges at the local level.
▶ 1:05:00I think the most important thing is to to create an environment where we can innovate. Uh, every community is different and giving us the flexibility to come up with new solutions like we've done. Uh, you know, sadly we have at times said we're going to solve this problem. uh on our own because we just realized that that the help's not coming from above, right? And so giving communities the ability to do that and that flexibility is probably the single most important thing you can do.
▶ 1:05:27Then becoming a partner and and looking at the model we've created, uh the model we've created can be applied, you know, more globally across the nation if if we so choose to do, but you have to create the environment that allows that and that doesn't exist in a lot of areas. And and on that same note, I'll ask from your perspective, conversely, what is Washington doing that could hinder the growth in the child care space? Another good question.
▶ 1:05:54Uh, you know, I don't know that I can really answer what they're doing that's that's hindering it other than, you know, when you create situations where um that wage pressure keeps keeps people out of this workforce, uh, you know, childc care is going to be the first place we're going to see that, right? And so, we have to find ways to to fill in those gaps and and and address that piece of it.
▶ 1:06:18Um, I think the other piece, you know, from the federal side is, uh, you know, the more of these solutions that are driven through state governments, and I'm speaking totally from the local level here, the more of those solutions that are driven through state governments, the more levels of confusion that that it, you know, develops. So, anything you can do to streamline that process and again give those local governments the flexibility and communities the chance to innovate and come up with different solutions would be great. Thank you, sir.
▶ 1:06:48Miss Sims, real quickly in the few seconds I have left, in your testimony, you mentioned the varying child care preferences parents could have for their kids, including faith-based providers. In your view, what role can faith-based providers play in increasing access to child care services? Um, I think primarily it's to continue to participate in the program and also I think there's much more we can do to advertise to the faith community that CCDBG is a very unique program.
▶ 1:07:16you can participate in the program and not have to check your faith at the door. And that is a crucial piece of what makes CCDBG such a unique program is that they can fully participate. But often we have put roadblocks up for faith providers and they need to understand that this is a completely inclusive program for them.
▶ 1:07:34And I appreciate that because in the past, the proposals on the other side have tried to force faith-based institutions to choose between operating according to their sincere held beliefs or maintaining access to federal funds. And I think you make an excellent point, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Representative Adams of North Carolina is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the witnesses uh for being here today and for your testimony.
▶ 1:08:00uh after years of working families struggling to afford the cost of child care, I'm I'm glad to see that this committee has finally decided to hold a meeting uh hearing on this subject because child care is hard to find and it's even harder for working families to afford. Uh this is a crisis and and Congress needs to work tirelessly to ensure that that our children are cared for. Uh what sort of solutions are Republicans bringing to the table?
▶ 1:08:29Well, the Department of Labor cut child care for its employees, and the president isn't requesting any additional funding for Head Start. As my Angelo reminded us, when someone shows you who they are, believe them. House Democrats are working to make child care more affordable and to ensure that child care workers can make the ends meet.
▶ 1:08:50We're introducing legislation as you've heard like the child care for working families act because we understand that as Marian Wright Elderman said that the future which we hold and trust for our own children will be shaped by our fairness to to other people's children as well. Dr.
▶ 1:09:08Freriedman uh child care professionals in a center earn an average of $33,140 per year and that puts many child care workers in the position of not being able to afford child care for for their children.
▶ 1:09:24So can you tell us more about the child care workers in this country and whether uh most of them can can make ends meet based only on on the money that they make from working in a childare center and and how do these wages impact the child care workforce? Thank you.
▶ 1:09:42So a as you said the child care workforce is one of the lowest paid professions in this country despite the very essential and important work that they do every day for families and for this country. The real problem is that parents um uh can't pay higher fees and um uh providers can uh barely keep the staff that we have.
▶ 1:10:09In talking to providers over the past few years, you know what I heard over and over again is they continue to lose staff to places like fast food or Costco because those places pay better and have better benefits and unless we address the wages of the child care workforce, we will not have enough child care in this country. Thank you. So because of of low wages, many care workers rely on public assistance in order to survive.
▶ 1:10:38And researchers at at Berkeley estimate that 43% of the childcare workers uh the families rely on some kind of public assistance like SNAP or Medicaid to survive on these insufficient wages. Some of my colleagues across the aisle might be under the impression that recipients of Medicare or SNAP do not work, but that's just not true. Uh Dr.
▶ 1:11:01Freeman, if cuts to Medicaid or SNAP made it pos impossible for ch for childcare workers to make ends meet, what would you expect to happen and would they be able to keep working? And now if those workers didn't keep working, what would the impact be on child care costs and availability for other families? I think the cuts, the proposed cuts to Medicaid and SNAP are very, very dangerous for the child care workforce.
▶ 1:11:27Um about 30% of childare workers uh count on Medicaid. Um in expansion states, child care workforce is uh has health insurance at four times the rate of states who did not expand. And so if those cuts go through, you're going to see that the workforce cannot make ends meet and they will lo they will leave their child care jobs for other jobs.
▶ 1:11:53Um and as a result we will see the child care supply in this country go down. Thank you ma'am. Uh in your testimony uh Dr. Freeman you mentioned the department of of government efficiency cuts at the office of child care. So could you provide more details about what those employees did to support the child care development fund and how these firings will impact the administration of the child care development fund. Absolutely.
▶ 1:12:20So, Congress just recently gave the Office of Child Care the resources it needed to support implementation of CCDF. Um, and those staff were doing a variety of things. One of the things that we heard from states is that um the Office of Childare was not responsive enough quickly with state questions and that we needed more uh timely responses.
▶ 1:12:44we needed more timely monitoring so that they knew what they were doing um and what they could be doing better. Uh in addition, the five offices, regional offices that closed, those experts very closely worked with state agencies to maximize the state flexibility and state dollars. So we lost all of that expertise and by cutting the staff by 50% everyone has to do another job. You can't do the same job.
▶ 1:13:13can't support the program, you can't oversee the program correctly. Right. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. I'll now recognize myself for five minutes. Um, Ms. uh Mrs. Codella Low, uh, we've been talking uh today a lot about how uh about the economic consequences um of uh of parents having to to drop out of the workforce because of the uh unaffordability of child care.
▶ 1:13:40and then uh because you're not in the workforce, you uh become even more unable to afford uh child care and it's this sort of uh vicious uh vicious cycle. Uh conversely, I'd have to imagine it's also true that there are families who actually delay having children because uh of the uh unaffordability of being able to access care and we know that this is a a general trend in the in this country is delaying having there's a lot of reasons for it, but I have to imagine this is one of them. Is there evidence for that?
▶ 1:14:07that this is one of the factors that's causing families to delay like expanding their family. I I don't know that there I I can't speak to that. Do you have any evidence at this time, Miss Sims? Um I've I've seen some news reports, but I've not read any of the research to validate that one way or another. Yeah. So, it seems that uh the goal is to be able to give people all of the options they can in order to have to plan their families uh in in the way that they'd like and to balance that with their careers.
▶ 1:14:33And so that strikes me as what should be the goal uh when it comes to these issues of affordability. Another uh issue we've touched on repeatedly is the workforce challenges faced by uh child care providers. Uh and you know we're in this period of of great transition in many industries which is likely to accelerate uh in the next few years with uh advancements in AI and other technology that will likely lead uh to the need for um people to to have career transitions.
▶ 1:15:01uh the childcare industry is probably one that is going to be among the least affected because of the highly human and personal nature of that work. Uh so um is there an opportunity here to have job retraining type programs that will move people into the childare industry? I'll give that to you as long Sure. And thank you for the question. I will say that personally being a mom of two that child care was is a major factor. Um in affordability of child care is a major factor and in most um urban areas it is extremely challenging.
▶ 1:15:32But um in terms of workforce, this is um I have to say that the bipartisan policy center launched a commission on the American workforce earlier this year. Getting at exactly that we are in a great a moment of great transition. Um and the skills necessary to take on any job uh is requires a lot of time and attention at a federal level and also at a state and local level. And these are some of the issues that we are tackling right now.
▶ 1:16:01thinking about how do you use opportunities to train and ret retrain workers to put them into or provide opportunities for them to metriculate into jobs that we know the economy will be able to sustain and also sustain them. Great. Yeah, I think this is just a huge opportunity that could really help with a big big element of this problem. Uh finally, uh Mayor uh Barton, um very uh inspiring to see the work that you've done uh in your community. I'm I'm curious.
▶ 1:16:28You mentioned that the center that's been started as a collaboration among the private sector, philanthropy and and the local government. Uh so what is sort of the role of the the business community here? In that case, they it seems you kind of came together uh around a center that could be used by multiple families. Some employers provide sort of in-house uh services to employees if they're big enough. Uh so how can we really create the right incentives for the business community to help with this problem? Well, this was born out of our annual visits with those businesses and we repeatedly heard that the the childcare issue was keeping people out of the workforce.
▶ 1:16:59Uh there was also the realization that they were willing to invest on the health side with the nearsight wellness clinics. So that was a moment for us to to understand that maybe we could translate that to the child care side. Uh their involvement in this has been on the on really on the fundraising and the sustainability side. So each of those businesses has committed at different levels for the initial construction and the sustainability model. We sustain our center with ongoing funding. It's not a one-time and that's something we were very aware of as we created this model.
▶ 1:17:28We didn't want to open a center and have it closed two years later because it wasn't sustainable. So, that piece is in there as well. That's the role of the businesses there. In exchange, their employees get priority seating. So, they get to move to the top of the list. Uh, you know, because sometimes we have more requests than we have seats. Uh, they also get a seat on the governing board that oversees the center. we give them some say in how we operate it. But you know, we we really rely on the professional input of the operator.
▶ 1:17:55Uh and then the governing board there is is really looking after the financial side of it. But businesses have to have a stake in this. They have to be involved and and it's about, you know, their success in our community as an employer being able to attract and retain employees. Um, and you know, as we move forward, uh, there's no single greater factor for these businesses to succeed than to think about the pipeline for tomorrow. And I think they're investing in what's going to happen in 20 years. Thank you very much.
▶ 1:18:24Uh, Representative Asseri of Arizona is recognized. Thank you. Thank you so much to our witnesses for being here today. Very helpful testimonies. It's no question that the cost of living has gone up much faster than wages over the years. Having one source of income is often extremely unrealistic. So for many families with young children, they have to choose between either a second income or paying up for child care.
▶ 1:18:48I represent Phoenix, Arizona, and in Arizona, the price of center-based child care for two children is over $27,000 annually, according to recent research by Childcare AAR of America. That's higher than the average cost of housing and completely unrealistic in districts like mine where the average household income is only $87,000 per year and much lower in many parts of the district. Family child care, on the other hand, is significantly less expensive than center-based care.
▶ 1:19:18In Arizona, it's about $10,000 annually per child versus $15,000 for centerbased care. Dr. Freriedman, can you talk about how those two types of care differ and why a parent might choose one over the other and why is family child care important in this sector? So, as I think all the panelists have said, I think um it is really important that there are a lot of choices in the child care market for families to choose between.
▶ 1:19:48And it is a very personal decision where you put your baby while you are at work. And what might feel right to one parent um feels very different to another. And for some the um smaller size of a family child care feels much more comfortable. For others they really like the structure of a center.
▶ 1:20:10And I think it is really important that our child care policies uh support both um all of these different models so that parents continue to have those choices. I you know one of the reasons family child care um s is um uh because um uh the person running it usually is doing multiple jobs um and so they're not taking a salary for themselves.
▶ 1:20:39Um uh so you know that is not necessarily a highlight of the model and what we need to be doing is making sure that all of these different childare settings are available for families so they can make those decisions. Thank you. And Mrs.
▶ 1:20:55Codella Low, how can Congress help sustain and grow family child care through existing programs or new federal Yeah, I think that um as the panel has said today, choices are important for for parents as well as affordability, right? Both of these things go hand inand when any parent is looking at a center or or excuse me, an option for their child, they're looking at a lot of really important factors and um you know, affordability lives in that.
▶ 1:21:25The other thing that that Dr. Freriedman just expanded on is that a lot of parents feel really um excited about the opportunity to be able to go to a neighbor, go to a family child care center. Um and giving the flexibility and allowing for parental choice in all of our methods, right? Like this mixed delivery system is so important to our ability to provide the necessary care for all Americans.
▶ 1:21:53What we have right now in centerbased care does not fit the need. what we have right now in ch in family base doesn't fit the need. What we have in family family, friend, and neighbor. All of these things together um need to be a core component in thinking about choice and flexibility for parents to make the decisions that make the most sense for them. Thank you. And you know, we know from 2023 to 2024 that the number of licensed family childare homes increased by 4.3%.
▶ 1:22:19Again, according to Childcare Aare of America, this marks the first time in several years that we saw an upward trend in the number of licensed family child care homes. I've also heard concerns that licensing standards, including those that are meant to ensure health and safety of all involved, negatively impact those providers and their ability to actually provide these child care services. So, Dr. Freriedman, one more question for you. Can you talk a little bit more about this impact?
▶ 1:22:44How can policymakers balance the need for health and safety without negatively impacting our child childare providers? So to be clear, I do not think it is the federal regulations that are causing problems for family child care providers in places. The federal regulations um very much support and promote family child care.
▶ 1:23:07I think states um it is always worth taking a look at regulations and making sure that they are right-sized in particular making sure there are not barriers to business operation that is different than deregulating for child health and safety which um is something that should not happen. One of the conversations I had with family childcare pro family childcare providers, director of the office of child care is she was going to lose her business because of HOA policies.
▶ 1:23:34And that is the type of thing that I do think that states need to be taking a look at and making sure that those barriers are out of the way for family child care so that they can operate and with investment supply can grow. Thank you so much. I know I'm a little over time. Really appreciate it. I just Mr. Mr. Chair, I would like to ask unanimous consent to enter the following Marshall plan for moms report into the record. It's titled the business case for child care. How parent focused employee value propositions help companies win the war for talent. Without objection. Thank you.
▶ 1:24:04Gentle lady's time is expired. Now recognize gentle lady from Illinois, Congresswoman Miller, for five minutes. Thank you, chairman, and thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today. Um, I'm so uh happy that I've been able to be a mom and a grandma and I had the privilege of being able to um between my husband and me have be a caregiver for our own children.
▶ 1:24:28And um unfortunately this has become more of a luxury today and I think young families um are finding themselves in quite a predicament here. They have to find work outside the home to support their growing families, forcing them to secure child care options during the day. Other families do have to make the difficult decision to forego the extra income so one parent can stay home because child care is simply too expensive.
▶ 1:24:57In my district, the median household income is just over $70,000 and child care costs between 8,000 and 10,000 per child. In many cases, the average income can't sustain two children in child care. It's just not Republicans are working with President Trump to create a more affordable health child care system, specifically by creating more options for parents to use vouchers.
▶ 1:25:27Unfortunately, the Biden Harris administration had a long record of discriminating against faith-based organizations. Many child care agencies are also local and many parents choose to send their children to these organizations because they have a personal connection. Ultimately, our goal should be to make child care so affordable that parents don't have to decide between caring for their children or working multiple jobs. So, Mrs.
▶ 1:25:58low. In 2021, your organization released a report entitled Examining the Role of Faith-based Child Care. Could you talk more about the importance of faith-based child care and why parents should have it as a choice? Yeah, and I think what we found is that parents use faith-based providers often. We know that they are part of a a working mixed delivery system.
▶ 1:26:21Um, and I think that that is, you know, the crux of the report shows that parents are making choices, making choices that work best for them and for their families. And um, we also know that access, affordability, reliability, high quality are all factors that parents are looking at in order to uh, make these decisions.
▶ 1:26:43Um and faith-based providers uh only add to a mixed delivery system that we know is necessary to provide the seats for um the kids that need spots. Absolutely. And I'm a firm believer that competition drives quality up and prices down. So, Miss Sims, could you explain how applying this principle to child care will benefit parents, children, and local economies?
▶ 1:27:07Well, I mean, I think just choice in general is always, you know, a good driver towards competition and choice because if I can't find it here, I will go look elsewhere. Um, you know, the faith-based providers are there, family childcare providers there. I think with everyone though, as we've talked about, it's all looking at how do we support like all of these boats to float and to support them and that we're not prejudicing one over the other. And that's going to be a variety um a variety of techniques that we we look at, right?
▶ 1:27:37And and children are unique, families are unique, and I think it was a shame that um faith-based child care was discriminated against. So, Mayor Barton and my my district is quite rural, much like your town of Crawford'sville. We're kind of close, actually. What's your message to policymakers who underestimate the economic consequences of ignoring rural child care access?
▶ 1:28:04Well, we are in a battle for population in a battle for population to maintain our work force that is the tax base for these rural communities. Uh whether that's agriculture, manufacturing, whatever it might be. Uh and without the child care piece, rural America starts to suffer and and we are already going through that. We have been in my community for a number of years. I think we've turned the corner. Uh but it has a profound economic impact and the data has shown that time and time again.
▶ 1:28:31Uh you lose you lose business, you lose industry, you lose productivity and then ultimately you lose, you know, spending power in your community and your tax base. And so it's a vicious cycle once you start down that path. As I said earlier, it's all about the economies of scale and rural communities are such at such a disadvantage when it comes to standing up child care providers or centers um that we really struggle, right? And rural communities are a wonderful place to raise children.
▶ 1:28:58I so enjoyed your biography and I appreciate that you're a problem solver and you're looking outside the box and doing great things in your community. Thank you so And I yield back. Representative Hayes of Connecticut is recognized. Thank you. Good morning and thank you to our witnesses for testifying today. Access to child care is essential for parents to get an education or to enter the workforce. The child care industry was dramatically impacted by the pandemic.
▶ 1:29:25As we all know, between February 2020 and April 2020, the number of employees in child care centers abruptly dropped from just over 1 million workers to around 670,000. Democrats tried to shield the industry from the worst economic impacts, including a supplemental injection of 15 billion in discretionary dollars into the child care and development fund and 24 billion for child care stabilization grants, which allowed childcare providers to stay afloat.
▶ 1:29:55When we were debating the bill back better reconciliation package, I was someone who strongly supported the expansion of universal prek and child care was central to that conversation. Addressing the high cost of child care has consistently been a top priority to for me. I introduced the Prospect Act which expanded child care in community colleges and brought back CPF funds to my district for childcare incubators to develop and train uh business owners.
▶ 1:30:23So addressing this issue is something that I've tried to approach from every angle. But today I want to talk about some of those grants. According to an article published in the New Republic, the top 11 chains, much almost all of which are backed by private equity or publicly traded, serve only about 12% of the 7.5 million children who attend child who attend center-based uh care centers every day. As we know, these firms have an obligation to their stakeholders and have to generate revenue.
▶ 1:30:53For example, disclosures revealed that between 2012 and 2017, Kinderare, which is one example, closed 380 quote underperforming centers to increase revenue and enrollment at its remaining centers. For this reason, I believe that additional investments in the private child care sector must come with some type of guard rails. Dr.
▶ 1:31:15Freriedman, why is it important that these centers which are often labeled underperforming in terms of revenue are located in lowincome neighborhoods? So, I think we are just beginning to understand um what this type of uh for-profit program um how it is operating in um various communities.
▶ 1:31:43states are some states are trying to look at some guard rails. I think there are concerns um that a program might be answering to stakeholders instead of to families and what that might mean for the services that they are delivering. Um so I think states are beginning to experiment with those guard rails that you are speaking of and I I think uh there are important lessons to be learned there.
▶ 1:32:07And how does consolidation within the market impact the availability of child care slots in these communities? I I think we see quite clearly that what we need to be doing across this country in every single community is growing the supply and anything that is reducing the supply takes us further away from what families need. Thank you.
▶ 1:32:28In 2024, the Biden administration finalized a rule to update the Child Care and Development Fund, CCDF, those regulations, and support childcare quality and accessibility in communities all across the country.
▶ 1:32:41The biggest changes in the final rule included capping family co-ayments at 77 7% of family income, but allowing states to eliminate co-ayments for more families, improving payment practices by ensuring providers are paid upfront, requiring states and territories to provide at least some child care services through grants or contracts, and streamlining family eligibility. Dr. Freeman, what would repealing the 2024 rule mean for most child care operations during this crisis?
▶ 1:33:11So, repealing that rule is going to mean less stable child care operations, which is going to mean a less supply, which means less availability for child care. It's also going to mean increased prices for parents. It would be a tragic mistake to repeal that rule. Thank you.
▶ 1:33:28I I know we've heard a lot about parents having a choice in child care and I think that's absolutely what we want but I know personally that that for many of those parents that choice comes down to quality and affordability and that is the biggest thing that we need to address.
▶ 1:33:44I think that availability of more locations, whether they be private centers, community- based, family- based, whatever, if there are available slots and that they have um have have the avail ability to pay for that care because no parent wants to think that they are compromising care for their child because they had to opt up opt for something just because of the cost. And with that, I yield back.
▶ 1:34:13The chairman of the full committee, Representative Wahberg of Michigan, is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the panel for being here. Um, this this is this is a crucial crucial topic. This is this is not this is not the same issue as when I was a boy back in the last century. Um, this is something that is extremely important for all that we do in education as well as in the workforce.
▶ 1:34:40And so thank you for your your written testimonies that were are very helpful. Um Mrs. uh Codelo you know in in times now that we you know are seriously looking here in this Congress with the debt increasing debt deficits that are going on. It it it forced us to consider everything in light of that.
▶ 1:35:09So I guess I'd ask the question, how can taxpayer funds at the federal level be mu used more effectively, not just more extensively uh to promote innovative child care Yeah, and thank you for the question.
▶ 1:35:25Um, I think that one thing that I think every single panel stated, every single panelist stated and every member stated was how important child care is to our economic infrastructure and thinking about child care is a real uh uh economic mobility.
▶ 1:35:44And um you know of course any mo any in investment of funds requires the need for us to think about these efficiently and think about how we can create innovative solutions. I think, you know, even sitting next to Mayor Barton here, who has looked at a problem in his city and figured out a way to braid funding both from the federal, from the state, and from the local level to create a sustainable solution for his community and to really meet the need
▶ 1:36:14of his workforce is a great example and one that is unique to Crawford'sville, but is not unique to the United States. There are so many examples in states like Michigan, the TriShare program that exists where they are braiding, they are finding opportunities to braid funding and create not only access but affordability for um for kids. So giving more opportunity, flexibility to the locals. Exactly. Okay. Okay. I appreciate that.
▶ 1:36:43Um, Miss Hartman Sims, do you believe the current child care landscape offers sufficient room for parental choice, which is big in my book? Um, and if not, how can policy improve that in the area of parental choice? Um, at the federal level, the childcare development block grant is incredibly inclusive of a variety of providers, as I mentioned earlier, including faith-based providers who do not have to check their faith um, at the door.
▶ 1:37:11I think the area we need to be most cautious of unlimiting choice and this is much this is really this is a state issue the expansion of universal prek which can sound lovely in concept what a lot of the states are doing is limiting choice.
▶ 1:37:29They are pulling threes and fours out of this mixed delivery system um that is inclusive of family child care and homes and faith-based providers and all of that and pulling them into a public school setting without the option of that parent having that choice. The other issue with that with universal prek is by pulling threes and fours out of community settings, we are disrupting and actually making infant and toddler care more expensive for parents versus less expensive. Okay. Okay. Thank you.
▶ 1:38:00Um, Mayor Barton, we'll move on from our discussion about motocross of nations and uh, get on to this issue here, though I'd love to discuss more. Crawford'sville has successfully collaborated with local and state government resources and businesses as well. Very creative. How were you able to solicit this type of multifaceted commitment?
▶ 1:38:24You know, the first step was getting everyone to understand that this was a significant problem and the data showed that and once that data was available, I think we had everyone's attention. Um, you know, the second piece was, you know, for everyone to understand they had a they had a stake in this and they had something to lose if we don't solve this. Businesses had something to lose. Uh, philanthropy, you know, if you don't spend on early childhood education, you know, spends, you know, many times more dollars down the road trying to solve problems with our young people.
▶ 1:38:52Uh so really convincing everybody uh that they had stake in this and that that you know there was a cost for them if we didn't do something and that they would be money ahead to address this early. Um so I think it's putting all that together and getting that buy in and then ultimately you know I think what we've done so well in our community is we come together collaboratively. It's it's bipartisan. It reaches across every sector of our community to really address these things.
▶ 1:39:18And as I tell everybody when we get involved in this, uh, you absolutely have to check your ego at the door and and we require that and we work under that concept and it it gets us there. If you could send us information on how to do that, we'd love that. Back the ranking member of the full committee, Representative Scott. Oh, I stand corrected. We're going to go to uh Representative Thompson of Pennsylvania, who will now have five minutes. All right, chairman. Thank you.
▶ 1:39:46And uh thank you you and the ranking member for this uh uh hearing. Thanks to all the witnesses that are here. Incredibly important um um topic. Uh Mayor Barton proud to welcome a fellow former firefighter to the uh to the dis. Uh um I'm not surprised at your leadership skills um having uh that shared value and experience.
▶ 1:40:14Um the rural areas share a level playing field with urban areas in terms of addressing child care needs. What are some of the pronounced differences? Well, I obviously can't speak to the urban, you know, situation, but I will tell you from the rural perspective, uh we have a couple of challenges. And the first I touched on earlier, which is the economies of scale. Uh as I mentioned in my written testimony, I initially thought this would be a pretty easy problem to solve. We'll just recruit child care providers to come to our community. and you quickly discover the numbers just aren't there.
▶ 1:40:45So that's that's probably the big thing that we face. I think the other reality is that for most rural communities um we don't have the resources to pursue all of the funding options and we've talked a lot about grant funding and different types of funding. Uh you have to have the the human resources and the time and the ability to seek that out and successfully apply and then administer it if you're successful. So real communities don't always have that. they often just leave it alone and they don't even pursue those funding options.
▶ 1:41:13So both of those things work really against us uh in the rural communities and and I think to the large extent we feel like we have to solve this alone because we're kind of forgotten out there. Well, as someone who represents a third of land mass of Pennsylvania, very rural counties, uh 18 counties, um I mean, uh I think transportation uh for parents to to get to child care is is is an issue as well. Is the child care the direction of where the work setting is?
▶ 1:41:42Uh um just the math uh of various rural areas um you know, is there enough? I mean, there's there's kids that we need child care for, but is there enough kids for someone in order to be able to form a to successfully and financially, you know, put together um a child care uh operation that works as well? I think those are also things in in very rural areas that we that we obviously face as well.
▶ 1:42:10Can you speak to the link between child care access and population retention or growth in rural communities like yours? You did that a little bit. if you want to just expound on that a little bit because we I mean we all you know we're always those of us from rural America we want to be able to to grow our population right to stop that export of of young people and u yeah and what role does child care play in that well you know I've said it several times today but we are in a battle for population and what we've seen in in Indiana at least is we see people
▶ 1:42:40moving from the more rural areas to the the urban areas and there are several factors I think involved in their decision to do so uh But the reality is we're an industrial community. We're a manufacturing community. And to meet the workforce needs of my current employers, I have to grow the population at least modestly. And if I'm going to meet the needs of future employers, I have to add even additional growth there. So I need to do two things. I need to attract new residents and most importantly, I need to retain the next generation.
▶ 1:43:09We spend a lot of time in our community talking about that. And if you want 20some year olds starting careers and starting families in your community, child care is absolutely at the top of the list of needs in your community. Yeah. Child care, uh, rural broadband, uh, housing. I mean, because you need that workforce to to be able to grow businesses and attract new ones. Miss Sims, what are some examples where federal rules or mandates have actually made it harder for families to access care, particularly rural families?
▶ 1:43:41um there within like the the programs that are under your committee's purview. I don't think there are is as others have said the CCDBG program is predominantly a state administered and locally implemented program. Um there are things in rural America um that have been problematic.
▶ 1:43:58It is my understanding I am not an agg um expert but there are some rules within USDA um home loans which is a predominant lender of home lending um in rural America that you're not allowed to have a business inside have a USA rule home or mortgage if you're operating a business within that home which if you're a family child care home you're invariably operating a business and there has been legislation in past Congress has introduced um to uh have USDA undo that rule rule.
▶ 1:44:28I know that's not this committee's jurisdiction, but I I definitely think I've heard that in rural America. That is something that needs to be looked at. Well, as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, I will take that back and look at that. That there are a few archaic things I have found similar to that that we're trying to fix with this next farm bill. Chairman, thank you so much. Thanks very much. Representative Owens of Utah is Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I u for holding this hearing.
▶ 1:44:57I want to thank the witness for coming to testify on how uh access to affordable child care is uh giving parents the flexibility they need to participate in the workforce. For several years, I've been a champion of the child care and development block grant and the flexibility that it provides. I look forward to speaking uh to our witnesses and understanding how better to leverage our policy and support our parents and children. Um uh Mrs. Kotel Low um uh we have acknowledged there's a nationwide deficit in the workforce.
▶ 1:45:26uh uh participation based on your research. Uh what's at stake for local economies and workforce participation when child care is unavailable uh or unaffordable? I'm sure you probably answered that already, but I wouldn't mind if you wouldn't just extend yourself. No, absolutely. Um I think you know there is a lot at stake when we don't have access uh to reliable, highquality child care.
▶ 1:45:51But you know the the things that come to mind are redu reduction in workforce participation, loss of income, business disruptions and I think this is something that um has really rippled through the system in the last couple of years. Certainly um previous to to my role at BPC, I worked at the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation and spent a lot of time on childcare issues there. And previous to the pandemic, you didn't hear a lot of um business, you know, leaders talk about child care as an issue that they were thinking about.
▶ 1:46:21And then all of a sudden, the pandemic hit and we were talking about child care often. And so business disruptions are are real. Um decreased tax revenue in uh in every single city, but certainly also in states. And then um I think as Mayor Barton has also alluded to a real um disproportionate rural impact associated. Okay. Thank you so much.
▶ 1:46:46U Mayor Barton, uh what is uh what was your catalyst for engaging businesses to help solve the child care problem in Well, they were the first to illuminate the problem for us. They were the first to bring this to our attention. We were hearing this every year in our meetings with them. uh and then you know as the data became available that I think was able to uh really bring it to the forefront of the conversation uh and then really bringing them in as part of the solution uh was centered upon those earlier conversations about the problem.
▶ 1:47:16So it's much easier to walk in the door with a proposed solution and ask for assistance when they have been telling you year after year that a problem exists. Uh so it's really through what I call our business retention and expansion program which we focus on uh you know great deal in our community. We visit every business annually.
▶ 1:47:34We visit their corporate headquarters which are generally located in other cities uh every two to three years and it's through those candid conversations where they really share what's working in our community and what's not working in our community and where they're seeing issues and that really opened the door for this discussion and eventual Yeah, this is something I think nationwide we're seeing this workforce deficit. So, this is such a great conversation to have.
▶ 1:47:58U Miss Miss Sims, how can federal child care policy ensure parental choice without picking winners or losing losers among providers? Um, sure. So I think the the current uh childcare involvement block grant program the federal tax credits as they are currently done do not discriminate based on type of provider faith-based for-profit nonprofit you know family um centerbased um I think you know places you want to be concerned and I you know there's I can um Miss Freriedman
▶ 1:48:28and I have known each other for a number of years in their time that we're going to agree and a lot of times sometimes we don't you know we would disagree. I am concerned about a provision that was included in the CCDF regulations requiring states to use some portion um on grants or contracts.
▶ 1:48:43Um it you know I understand trying to deal with the u lack of care in other you know in some areas but when government is going into a grant or contract versus a voucher or certificate to parents it inevitably sends tends to uh prioritize one type of private pro provider over another.
▶ 1:49:02And I think you know since CCDBG has been in existence um it has always been about parent choice and I am concerned about that provision in the current pro current final regulations that I believe will limit choice not um increase choice. Okay, we'll make sure we take a good look at that because choice is really what it's all about. Parents choice. So thank you so much. What a it's a timely conversation and looking forward to being part of the solution. So thank you so much and chairman I yield back. Thank you very much. Ranking member Scott is now recognized. Thank you Mr.
▶ 1:49:31Chairman, um, Mayor Barton, uh, you had a lot of success in expanding capacity. You said 30% increase. I think one of the successes was Camp Milligan. Can you tell us a little bit about that? The age of the children, how many children were in the program, and how much it costs? Yeah, so Camp Milligan is a summer day camp.
▶ 1:49:53And one of the things that we had noticed is that we were dealing with the early learning piece of this, the preschool type uh you know piece of this and and we really realized at some point that uh we had a big issue with school age children in the summer and on breaks and so we started Camp Milligan to help address that. Uh we've also helped support other programs in our community. And you're talking about those children that, you know, aren't able to care for themselves safely, but still need care in the summer and are out of school.
▶ 1:50:23Um Camp Milligan is a combination uh funding from the city, our McGomery County Community Foundation. We operate it through our parks and recck department. Uh they have since expanded. We have a program over winter break, over Christmas break, uh to help with child care then for school age children. So, it's really pulling all that together to create that while in addition, we are supporting other programs such as the Boys and Girls Club. How much did it cost? Uh, I don't have those numbers in front of me.
▶ 1:50:52I would say, you know, probably in the neighborhood of about $10,000 for the summer. It's it's pretty affordable. Uh, we're paying the staff. How many students? Uh, I don't have the numbers in front of me. I'm going to guess probably about 40 students. Okay. Um, did the city appropriate any money for other child care programs? What we've done is participate in the hiring of the early learning director to support the other programs.
▶ 1:51:20Uh, so that director is out there every day helping them with the business model, with personnel matters, with regulatory issues and so on. We participate in that through the McGomery County Community Foundation. So, no direct funding has not gone to any other providers, just channeled through the foundation. Does the community foundation put money into it? Yes, they do. Okay. U Dr. Freeman, we've heard a lot about the um faith-based organizations.
▶ 1:51:49My understanding that faith-based providers have always been a major participant in child care programs, including Head Start and CCDBG. Um, is that true? That's absolutely true. Um, so when you talk about them not participating or being borrowed, that's that's just not true. That's simply false. Okay.
▶ 1:52:16Um, can you tell us why subsidies are necessary for child care to be affordable? Subsidies are uh necessary because the math does not work in child care. uh parents cannot cover what providers actually need to pay their staff. And so if there are not is there is not child care assistance uh we are never going to have the child care we need in this country. And if for infants the ratio of teachers to students is 4 to one.
▶ 1:52:45So essentially each student has to support a fourth of the teacher salary before you get to the other expenses. That's right. So states set um uh teacher child ratios not the federal government. Many states set it at 1 to4 and infant care is more expensive because inherently it is more labor intensive and and and you can't get away from that. Absolutely should not want to get away from that. We've heard a lot about deregulation.
▶ 1:53:14What happens to safety if child care is deregulated? So health and safety regulations are extremely important. Um uh children need a lot of care and attention and um parents do not want their children warehoused by untrained individuals. And what happens if they if you don't have those regulations? What happens to the children? You will have more safety incidents. Children will be less safe.
▶ 1:53:47Thank Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield Thank you very much. The ranking member is now uh recognized for a closing statement. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um and and thank you to the witnesses. I think this is an an excellent discussion and and a place where we all acknowledge that there is a challenge. Uh we all agree uh Mr. Chairman and and and colleagues that parental choice is important. There is no question here that Democrats are pro-choice.
▶ 1:54:13Um as we heard today, uh families across the country are struggling to find highquality affordable child care. This is not a new challenge or a new problem. Uh think back to the pandemic. Uh brings back a lot of bad memories, but during the first eight months of the pandemic alone, 166,000 child care jobs were simply lost across the country. Childcare employment is now slightly above prepandemic levels, which is great.
▶ 1:54:40But we know that the child care crisis still remains as families struggle to find and afford care. It's acutely felt by families and is growing more urgent by the day. And it's not just families. As we heard in the testimony, they're not just families feeling the impact. As child care workers who are overwhelmingly women, women of color, and immigrants, they make poverty level wages.
▶ 1:55:04And the US economy loses 122 billion dollar every year as a direct result of the scarcity of affordable childare. And as Dr. Freriedman testified, "There simply is no market solution. We know that without robust federal investment, the cost of care will keep rising and workers who provide the essential care will continue to be among the lowest paid workers." These are the same caregivers who help shape the future of our children.
▶ 1:55:32They deserve better and until wages are increased, the re recruitment and retention challenges will remain. Unfortunately, instead of addressing this crisis directly, many congressional Republican proposals combined with the harmful policies from the Trump administration are going to make things worse.
▶ 1:55:50Since the beginning of the year, Head Start, in particular, has faced numerous challenges from being unable to use federal funds, the closure of five of the 12 Head Start regional offices that provide crucial support to programs across the country. These actions have made life more challengings with challenging for families with young children and I note that anybody who's ever been in a Head Start program knows that they also involve families. It is a very good investment. I also want to note Mrs.
▶ 1:56:18Codella Low recommended improving data collection. I think that would be wonderful but unfortunately the Trump administration and the Department of Labor are trying to eliminate completely eliminate the Women's Bureau at the Department of Labor where they do the data collection. the national database of childare prices. That is critical information that we need. So some colleagues have uh turned to deregulation as a solution. As we just heard, that is not an answer.
▶ 1:56:43Plus, importantly, research shows that there is no correlation between state regulation and childcare supply. We even have bipartisan support for strong standards in child care settings. I'm a mom. This is important. The last child care and development block grant uh reauthorization included updated health and safety standards for childcare centers. We need to continue focusing on what we know works. Increasing investment in child care is the key to building quality child care supply and improving uh affordability.
▶ 1:57:14We should take action. I'm glad that we talked about this, but we should take action uh about the need for greater investments. For years, we've had bipartisan support for funding the childcare and development block grant at 12.4 billion. Yet, Congress has not funded the program at this level. Congress must also pass legislation, for example, the Childare for Working Families Act that would cap child care costs for working families at 7% of income and make the investments we need.
▶ 1:57:42I also want to note that there are other policies that would address this issue, like joining the rest of the world and offering paid family leave. when we hear the statistics about the in the the additional cost for infant care and look at the numbers I don't have the exact numbers but the number of women who go back to work within weeks of having a child not because they want to or feel up to it because they have to uh the rest of the world offers paid family leave that makes a tremendous difference also I have a a bill called build housing with
▶ 1:58:12care act that would give grants to affordable housing so you could build the child care center at the affordable housing again reducing costs and stress for families. So there's a lot of policies we could look at uh to address this uh this this challenge. We have the opportunity and we have the responsibility to act for families, for children, for workers and for the economy. The time to invest in child care is now. Thank you again for the excellent discussion and I yield back. Thanks very much.
▶ 1:58:41Uh thank you very much to the witnesses uh for your compelling testimony. Uh I think that we uh can all agree that the ability to start your family and pursue your career on your own terms uh are is central uh to the American dream.
▶ 1:58:54Uh but because of the cost of child care and uh limited accessibility uh too many parents are faced with wrenching dilemmas and to the extent that we can find solutions that will ease those dilemmas uh will therefore make the American dream more of a reality uh for for more families.
▶ 1:59:14Um and at the same time, as we've heard throughout today's testimony, this is an issue that is uh very much connected to the success of local economies and our broader uh national economy. Miss uh Mrs. Codell Lo used the term essential infrastructure to describe childcare, which at first glance, you don't really think of child care the same way I think about roads or power lines or something like that.
▶ 1:59:36uh but I think that it actually is an apt term because uh it's just as foundational uh in a sense to being able to have a functioning and and flourishing economy. So I think a few takeaways from today's hearing based on all the questions and the testimony from the witnesses are number one that choice and flexibility must remain uh the central pillars of the system. This mixed delivery uh model that Ms.
▶ 1:59:58uh Sims talked about uh and in a similar vein, federal support uh ought to give local communities and governments flexibility uh in terms of what form that support takes. Uh as Mayor Barton has testified, for example, uh a rural community like his may not have the same economy of scale uh to support the same options uh as as an as a uh as an urban community.
▶ 2:00:22Um we also discussed the workforce challenges that are faced by child care providers and there may be room here for things like licensing reform, credentiing reform uh and uh certainly uh with economic dislocations affecting uh some sectors uh in the years ahead. I think there will be an opportunity to utilize job retraining as well uh to assist with recruitment uh for that sector.
▶ 2:00:44I think that we also have uh come to some agreement that the solutions here really need to be multiaceted uh and draw uh upon support from uh from local communities from uh state governments from philanthropy and from the business community. I think in many cases the business community uh is very much interested in collaborating uh in finding solutions in order to allow uh their their employees to b balance work uh and family life.
▶ 2:01:11And then finally, I think it's really important that uh that this be an issue we appro approach from a bipartisan perspective. Uh this affects millions and millions of families, doesn't matter uh their political views, and I think there really is a lot of common ground here. So, I look forward to working with uh my colleagues on on both sides of the aisle to find solutions uh the rest of this Congress. Thanks very much. With there being no further business, the subcommittee stands adjourned.