IV 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 386 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the availability 

of high-quality child care for working parents should be increased. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 28, 2015 

Ms. BONAMICI (for herself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. NADLER, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. GALLEGO, 

Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. POCAN, Mrs. 

LAWRENCE, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Ms. HAHN, Ms. JACKSON LEE, 

Mr. HONDA, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. NORTON, Ms. BROWN of Florida, 

Ms. LEE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. EDWARDS, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, and Ms. TITUS) 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 

the availability of high-quality child care for working 

parents should be increased. 

Whereas today’s working parents depend on high-quality 

child care so they can work and support their families, 

and over 60 percent of children under 5, and 1⁄2 of grade 

school-aged children are in a regular child care arrangement; 

Whereas United States businesses lose $3,000,000,000 annually due to employee absenteeism resulting from child 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HRES 386 IH 

care challenges, thereby weakening the stable and reliable 

child care system that is essential for today’s economy; 

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

particularly the nearly 9,000,000 parents who work nonstandard hours, when only 8 percent of child care centers 

provide evening or weekend care; 

Whereas most middle-class families struggle to afford highquality child care, with the median aggregate cost of 

nearly $16,000 per year the for full-time care for an infant and a 4-year-old in a child care center; 

Whereas the average annual cost of center-based child care 

for an infant is over 1⁄2 of the income of a family of 3 

living at the poverty level in 21 States; 

Whereas high-quality child care and early education, especially for disadvantaged children, helps children thrive in 

school and beyond by decreasing special education placement and reducing grade retention, by decreasing child 

abuse and neglect and juvenile arrests, by increasing high 

school graduation and college attendance, and by increasing employment; 

Whereas the eligibility requirements to receive assistance 

under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 

of 1990 (CCDGB), the primary source of Federal funding support, exclude most American children from Federal child care assistance; 

Whereas the CCDBG still serves only a fraction of families 

eligible for Federal support, with only 17 percent of eligible children receiving Federal child care assistance—the 

lowest number since 1997; 

Whereas these issues affect all families, but disproportionately affect women since over 95 percent of the formal 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HRES 386 IH 

child care workforce is comprised of women, and women 

also do most of the unpaid child care work in families; 

Whereas increased pay for workers in the child care industry 

improves the quality of child care for young children; 

Whereas to recruit and retain a qualified child care workforce 

for young children, child care staff for young children 

should be paid as much as K–12 staff with equivalent 

education and experience; 

Whereas a full-time living wage of at least $15 per hour is 

needed for all child care workers to meet their families’ 

essential needs, but the average child care center worker 

earns $10.60 per hour and has experienced no increase 

in real earnings since 1997; 

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

also need universal preschool, child nutrition programs 

that promote health and wellness, fair work schedules, 

living wages, paid family and medical leave, paid sick 

days, and credit in the Social Security system for time 

spent caregiving, to support their well-being; and 

Whereas when families are guaranteed high-quality, flexible, 

available, and affordable child care, business productivity 

improves, parents have a greater likelihood of finding and 

keeping employment, and children do better in school and 

in life: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives supports 

2 efforts— 

3 (1) to provide child care assistance to all work4 ing families that need it, including middle class fam5 ilies who struggle to afford the cost of high-quality 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HRES 386 IH 

1 child care and underpaid families who are too often 

2 left behind; 

3 (2) to make child care affordable, with no work4 ing family having to pay more than 10 percent of 

5 their income for child care and with additional help 

6 to families most in need; 

7 (3) to ensure that child care is available so that 

8 parents in today’s 24-hour economy can access high9 quality care when and where they need it—during 

10 weekends, nights, as their job schedules change— 

11 with options across school, center and home settings; 

12 (4) to guarantee that all families eligible for 

13 child care will receive it, by creating a system that 

14 expands with need; 

15 (5) to improve the quality of child care by guar16 anteeing child care workers a living wage and wage 

17 parity with K–12 staff with equivalent education and 

18 experience, by improving training opportunities, and 

19 by giving workers a voice on the job to advocate for 

20 higher workplace standards and standards of care 

21 for the children they serve; and 

22 (6) to provide sufficient Federal, State, and 

23 local investment to ensure resources for both and 

24 high-quality jobs and affordable child care. 

Æ 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS