Senate Strikes Budget Deal that Expands Federal Child Care Program

(Washington, D.C.) This afternoon, Senators Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell announced a budget deal that would raise the caps on non-defense discretionary spending and provide an additional $5.8 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the main federal child care program, over the next two years. This funding increase would allow an additional 230,000 children to receive child care assistance and help states boost the quality of child care. It represents a collaborative effort by Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Patty Murray, and Chuck Schumer to support a belated expansion of child care funding.

The following is a statement by Helen Blank, Director of Child Care and Learning at the National Women’s Law Center:

“Today’s deal marks the largest increase in discretionary funding for child care in the last 28 years and the culmination of an intensive effort by policymakers and advocates to champion an overdue expansion. If this becomes law, more parents will be able to go to work knowing that their children are in safe and high-quality child care environments they need to succeed.

“But as Members of Congress proceed in budget talks, they must protect the 800,000 Dreamers—who came to this country as children and call America their home—from deportation.”

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For immediate release: February 8, 2018
Contact:  Maria Patrick ([email protected]) or Olympia Feil ([email protected])