WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in leading 27 of their Senate colleagues in calling on Senate leadership to include their plan for $50 billion in childcare relief in the next coronavirus package, saying it is an indispensable part of the nation’s response to the pandemic.
The plan outlines steps to stabilize the childcare system, keep providers in business, and ensure parents are able to go back to work when it is safe to return. In their letter, the Senators call on Senate leaders to prioritize this funding in the next coronavirus package, as well as making sure small businesses and nonprofits involved in caring for children receive support from the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program.
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“We write to strongly urge you to prioritize funding childcare in the next legislative package that responds to the public health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and emergency,” wrote the Senators. “While the $3.5 billion for childcare included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was an important first step in helping to fund childcare for frontline healthcare workers and other essential employees, since its passage, we have only learned more about the extent of closures required by this pandemic and the dire situation that childcare providers are in, which necessitates additional relief. Accordingly, we urge you to provide at least $50 billion in emergency funding in order to stabilize the entire childcare industry, provide childcare for essential workers including healthcare workers, and invest in childcare for our long-term economic recovery.”
The letter to Senate leaders was also signed by Senators Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Edward Markey (D-MA), Doug Jones (D-AL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI.), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Chris Coons (D-DE), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Tom Carper (D-DE), and Mark Warner (D-VA).
An analysis by the National Women’s Law Center estimated that at least $9.6 billion is needed each month to preserve the nation’s childcare system during the coronavirus pandemic. The need for at least $50 billion in childcare funding was also echoed by a broad coalition of childcare advocates nationwide.
