Regarding Child Care Crisis - Apr. 28, 2023

Speech begins at 10:37:49 AM

SUSAN WILD:

Thank you, Mr. speaker. I am a mother myself. My children are now 27 and 30 years old. but i distinctly remember how challenging it was to have children in a two-parent working family. I was a lawyer before I came to congress, and I remember the panic when I had to bring my very active toddler son to court with me because his preschool was suddenly closed. I really feel for people who have ongoing issues finding affordable, reliable childcare. more than 38,000 children in Pennsylvania are wait listed, 1600 classrooms have closed, and hundreds of childcare positions remain unfilled.

In my district in the Lehigh Valley, more than 1500 children are waiting for businesses and Carbon county is classified as a childcare desert. The childcare crisis isn't just hard on parents. It's hard on childcare providers, too. Early childcare workers in my district make just $28,000 to $32,000 compared with their elementary school peers making $52,000. The childcare for working families act introduced yesterday on a bicameral basis would help open more care providers and lower costs for parents capping costs at 7% of a family's income. putting money back in parents' pockets, raising wages for hardworking care providers and giving kids more quality early childhood education. That's working for people.

"U.S. House of Representatives House Session." C-SPAN video. Apr. 28, 2023.