Bustos Helps Pass Critical Child Care Legislation

Press Release

Today, Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17) helped pass two major pieces of legislation to support and stabilize access to child care -- the Child Care is Essential Act and the Child Care for Economic Recovery Act. Together, these critical bills work to ensure child care providers can remain open, cover increased costs, operate safely, retain employees, expand access to care and support hardworking families.

"The pandemic has left parents and families struggling to find critical child care services. Many of our essential workers and those on the front lines of this pandemic rely on child care to go to work, and as we continue to reopen, demand only rises," Congresswoman Bustos said. "It's vital we invest in child care services to help families get through this crisis and help our child care facilities that have been put in a difficult financial position, many of which are small businesses. I'm proud to help pass these essential bills to support hardworking Illinois families and strengthen our economy. Without access to child care, parents may be unable to return to work, which is key to our ability to reopen and rebuild."

As businesses begin to reopen and working families need child care, many providers across the country remain shut down or are operating at a significantly reduced capacity. Child care providers that are able to stay open are struggling to cover their increased operating costs with limited revenue, and many are at risk of permanent closure. Recent estimates from the National Women's Law Center show that it would take at least $9.6 billion per month to keep current child care providers in business.

The Child Care is Essential Act, which Congresswoman Bustos helped introduce in May as an original cosponsor, would:

Create a $50 billion Child Care Stabilization Fund within the existing Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program. The new Child Care Stabilization Fund would provide grant funding to child care providers to stabilize the child care sector and support providers to safely reopen and operate. These grants would help child care providers and working families by:

Ensuring the grants adequately support providers' operating expenses and funding gets to them quickly;
Requiring that providers continue to pay their staff;
Providing tuition and copayment relief for working families;
Promoting health and safety through compliance with public health guidance;
Prioritizing providers that serve underserved populations;
Ensuring grants are awarded equitably across child care settings; and
Conducting oversight through robust reporting requirements.
The Child Care for Economic Recovery Act would:

Provide ongoing federal investments and tax subsidies for working families, helping to bring quality child care within their reach to support ongoing employment. It also provides tax credits to support child care providers affected by COVID-19 shutdowns. Specifically, the bill does this by:

Increasing funds for the Child Care Entitlement to States program--for the first time in more than a decade--to $10 billion;
Investing $10 billion in infrastructure to improve child care safety.
Providing $850 million to states, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. territories to fill in gaps in dependent care for essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic;
Enhancing the child and dependent care tax credit, making it fully refundable so more families can access the support they need;
Increasing funding for the Voluntary Income Tax Assistance program to support families filling out their tax returns;
Expanding dependent care flexible spending accounts;
Creating a new tax credit to help employees access quality, affordable child care;
Providing a new refundable payroll tax credit for child care providers;
Incentivizing employers to keep child care workers on payroll with an expansion of the employee retention tax credit; and
Recognizing all child care workers as essential.

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