Pappas Joins Push to Renew Funding for Child Care

Last week, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) joined colleagues in the House and Senate to urge congressional leadership to provide robust funding for child care in any supplemental funding package. Funding provided through the American Rescue Plan Act to ensure parents could afford child care expired in September, but the child care crisis continues. Without this funding, many New Hampshire child care providers are struggling to continue to operate and serve families. 

“We write today to urge you to include robust funding for child care in any supplemental funding package considered by the Appropriations Committee. Child care is unaffordable and hard to find for working families, and child care providers across the country are struggling to stay afloat,” wrote the lawmakers.

“The child care workforce has been one of the slowest sectors to recover from the pandemic, and wages for this critical workforce remain unacceptably low, further fueling the shortage of available child care options for families,” the members continued. “Families and child care providers are feeling increasingly squeezed following the expiration of COVID-19 relief funding for child care, as child care providers scramble to fill the gap in resources previously filled by federal funds.”

The lawmakers wrote, “It is essential that as supplemental funding to meet emergency needs is considered, Congress take action to address the child care crisis. We have an urgent need to further stabilize an industry that has been long underfunded, and Congress must provide robust funding for this sector through a supplemental package.”

Congressman Pappas helped to pass the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and the American Rescue Plan Act into law, both of which included important investments in child care. He has called for funding levels for FY2024 of $12.4 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant and $932 million for IDEA Grants for Infants and Families and IDEA Preschool Grants, robust funding for the Child Care Access Means Parents in Schools program, and increasing Head Start and Early Head Start funding to $17.47 billion.

Pappas is a cosponsor of H.R. 3899, the American Family Act, which would establish a refundable child tax credit with monthly advance payments, H.R. 2992, the EDUCATORS for America Act, which would strengthen the educator workforce and address school staffing shortages, and supports capping the amount of money that families pay for child care.

Pappas also continues to advocate for investments in child care to be made in NH, such as the $1 million in federal dollars he secured through the Congressional appropriations process to make enhancements to the Child Study and Development Center at UNH, to help create an Early Child Institute for Excellence, and to improve child care and education in New Hampshire.

The lawmakers call is supported by All Our Kin; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); American Federation of Teachers (AFT); Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy; Caring Across Generations; Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP); Child Care for Every Family Network; Children’s Institute; Community Change Action; Early Care & Education Consortium (ECEC); Family Values @ Work; First Focus Campaign for Children; House Democratic Women’s Caucus; Mom Congress; Moms First; MomsRising; National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC); National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC); National Education Association (NEA); National Women’s Law Center (NWLC); Oxfam America; Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Small Business Majority; YMCA USA; and ZERO TO THREE.

A copy of the Senate letter is available here. A copy of the House letter is available here.