IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1443 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that all young children 

and families should have access to high-quality, affordable child care 

and early education. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 12, 2024 

Ms. BONAMICI (for herself, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. ADAMS, Mrs. 

MCBATH, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. POCAN, Ms. PORTER, Ms. TLAIB, 

Mr. MOULTON, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. TITUS, and Ms. NORTON) 

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

all young children and families should have access to 

high-quality, affordable child care and early education. 

Whereas today’s working parents depend on high-quality 

child care so they can work and support their families; 

Whereas, approximately 15,700,000 children under the age of 

5 are in a regular child care arrangement; 

Whereas the Council For A Strong America reported that the 

United States lost $122,000,000,000 in unrealized earnings, productivity, and revenue because of the child care 

crisis; 


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•HRES 1443 IH 

Whereas the Department of Health and Human Services recommends that no more than 7 percent of household income shall go toward child care payments; however, middle-income families spend as much as 14 percent on child 

care and low-income families spend approximately 35 percent of their income on child care; 

Whereas child care is difficult to find for millions of families, 

when only 8 percent of child care centers can provide 

evening, overnight, or weekend care, and approximately 

58 percent of low-income children younger than 6 years 

old whose parents work nontraditional hours; 

Whereas the need for care can dramatically exceed the supply 

in areas designated as child care deserts; 

Whereas more than 50 percent of families in the United 

States live in child care deserts, including every county 

in Oregon which is a child care desert for infant and toddler care; 

Whereas, in 2023, the national average price of child care 

was $11,582; 

Whereas the average annual price of child care for 2 children 

nationwide exceeds mortgage payments by up to 64 percent and rent payments by over 100 percent; 

Whereas families of color face income gaps that make highquality child care even less affordable for the parents and 

guardians of Black, Indigenous, and other children of 

color; 

Whereas high-quality child care and early education, especially for disadvantaged children, such as Head Start and 

Early Head Start, help children thrive in school and beyond; 


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•HRES 1443 IH 

Whereas, in 2023, the National Head Start Association reported 65 percent of providers claimed Head Start and 

Early Head Start vacancies remain high, and 76 percent 

of classroom closure are due to staff vacancies; 

Whereas high-quality child care improves children’s early 

learning, cognitive and language development, and social 

and emotional development during the earliest years of 

foundational brain development; 

Whereas the eligibility requirements to receive assistance 

under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 

of 1990, the primary source of Federal funding support, 

exclude most children in the United States from Federal 

child care assistance; 

Whereas the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 

of 1990 serves only a fraction of families, with just 1 in 

9 eligible children under age 6 receiving Federal child 

care assistance; 

Whereas these issues affect all families, but disproportionately affect women, many of whom are unable to enter 

the workforce due to the lack of affordable, high-quality 

child care for their children; 

Whereas the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the average 

hourly wage of child care workers is $14.60; 

Whereas the vast majority of the child care workforce is comprised of women, overwhelmingly women of color; 

Whereas Black child care providers earn an average of 78 

cents less per hour than their White counterparts; 

Whereas increased pay for workers in the child care and early 

education sectors improves the quality and continuity of 

care for young children, helps centers hire new staff and 


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improve conditions for children, and reflects the value of 

highly skilled work of caregivers; 

Whereas a survey from the National Association for the Education of Young Children found 4 in 5 child care centers 

are understaffed; 

Whereas to recruit and retain a qualified child care workforce 

for young children, child care and preschool workers with 

equivalent education and experience should be paid as 

much as K–12 staff; 

Whereas a full-time living wage is needed for all child care 

workers to meet essential needs, yet nearly half of child 

care workers currently receive Federal income assistance 

to support the well-being of families; 

Whereas the National Children’s Facilities Network estimates 

that at least $23,000,000,000 is needed to bring existing 

facilities up to best practice standards; 

Whereas the 2020 Government Accountability Survey estimated 26 percent of Head Start child care centers tested 

for lead in their drinking water, while 31 percent did not 

know it they had tested; 

Whereas expansion and renovation of facilities will improve 

child health and expand opportunities for employment in 

the care economy, but there is no dedicated Federal program to invest in upgrading care facilities; 

Whereas high-quality child care that works for everyone is essential for a strong economy and future, and working 

families also need universal preschool; 

Whereas areas with new universal preschool programs have 

shown dramatic increases, as high as 10 percent, in maternal labor force participation; 


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Whereas universal preschool programs for 3 and 4 year-olds 

provide a particularly important opportunity for fostering 

racial and socioeconomic diversity because they allow students of all backgrounds to enroll for free; 

Whereas, for every $1 invested in universal preschool, $9 in 

benefits, including better child health and increased earnings, is returned to the economy; 

Whereas when families are guaranteed high-quality, flexible, 

available, and affordable child care and early childhood 

education, business productivity improves, parents have a 

greater likelihood of finding and keeping employment, 

and children do better in school and in life; 

Whereas fixing the child care system is also an issue of racial 

justice; 

Whereas making sure families of color have access to highquality, affordable child care and preschool will help dismantle the systemic underinvestment in families and 

workers of color; and 

Whereas, according to a 2022 study conducted by Child Care 

Aware of America, 16,000 child care providers permanently closed between December 2019 and March 2021: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives should 

2 pass robust child care legislation that will stabilize the 

3 child care industry and that will— 

4 (1) provide child care assistance to all families 

5 that need it, especially low- and middle-income fami6 lies who struggle to afford the cost of high-quality 

7 child care and who are too often left behind; 


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1 (2) make child care affordable, with no family 

2 having to pay more than 7 percent of their income 

3 for child care, and families most in need paying 

4 nothing; 

5 (3) make sure that child care is available so 

6 that parents in today’s 24-hour economy can access 

7 high-quality care when and where they need it, dur8 ing weekends, nights, and as their job schedules 

9 change, with options in a mixed-delivery system 

10 across school, center, and home settings; 

11 (4) guarantee that all families eligible for child 

12 care will receive it, by investing in the expansion of 

13 child care supply and creating a system that is ap14 propriately funded to meet the need of families in 

15 the United States; 

16 (5) improve the quality of child care by guaran17 teeing child care workers a living wage and wage 

18 parity with K–12 staff for those with equivalent edu19 cation and experience, by improving training oppor20 tunities, by investing in long overdue infrastructure 

21 upgrades to child care facilities, and by giving work22 ers a voice on the job to advocate for higher work23 place standards and standards of care for the chil24 dren they serve; 


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1 (6) expand access to full-day, full-school year 

2 Head Start services, including Early Head Start, 

3 and high-quality, universal preschool; and 

4 (7) provide sufficient Federal investment to 

5 make sure resources for both high-quality jobs and 

6 affordable child care. 

Æ 


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