The following statement can be attributed to Indivar Dutta-Gupta, president and executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP).

Washington, D.C., October 25, 2023 — One of our nation’s most pressing issues is access to child care. And the Biden Administration is making an important statement about the urgency of supporting the child care sector with its supplemental funding request to Congress today. Earlier this summer, CLASP joined with many partners in calling on the White House and Congress to invest at least $16 billion in child care to maintain the progress achieved with COVID-era child care relief resources. We are thrilled that the Biden Administration understood this pressing need and is continuing to prioritize better compensation for providers and more accessible care for families in today’s proposed investments.

A majority of the pandemic child care relief resources expired at the end of last month, leaving states, providers, parents, and families questioning where we go from here. We’re already seeing the negative impacts—child care centers are closing, eliminating child care provider jobs and availability of care for parents. Without additional resources, even more providers will close over time, making care more expensive and even more difficult to access.

Long before the pandemic, the child care sector was fraught with inequities–in availability and affordability of care, in who has access to care, and in pay and benefits for providers. The child care relief resources helped to start righting some of those wrongs, wrongs that hold back our nation’s potential. We still have a long way to go, and we can’t lose any momentum.

Children, families, and providers can’t wait any longer. Businesses and communities throughout our country can’t afford to wait any longer. We call on Congress to turn the Biden Administration request for $16 billion for child care into a reality.