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 earn-
ings, productivity, and revenue because of the child care 
crisis; 
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•HRES 1443 IH 
Whereas, in 2023, the National Head Start Association re-
ported 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 disproportion-
ately 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 com-
prised 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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•HRES 1443 IH 
improve conditions for children, and reflects the value of 
highly skilled work of caregivers; 
Whereas a survey from the National Association for the Edu-
cation 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 esti-
mated 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 pro-
gram to invest in upgrading care facilities; 
Whereas high-quality child care that works for everyone is es-
sential 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 ma-
ternal labor force participation; 
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•HRES 1443 IH 
Whereas universal preschool programs for 3 and 4 year-olds 
provide a particularly important opportunity for fostering 
racial and socioeconomic diversity because they allow stu-
dents of all backgrounds to enroll for free; 
Whereas, for every $1 invested in universal preschool, $9 in 
benefits, including better child health and increased earn-
ings, 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 high- 
quality, affordable child care and preschool will help dis-
mantle 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 perma-
nently closed between December 2019 and March 2021: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives should 
pass robust child care legislation that will stabilize the 
child care industry and that will— 
(1) provide child care assistance to all families 
that need it, especially low- and middle-income fami-
lies who struggle to afford the cost of high-quality 
child care and who are too often left behind; 
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•HRES 1443 IH 
(2) make child care affordable, with no family 
having to pay more than 7 percent of their income 
for child care, and families most in need paying 
nothing; 
(3) make sure that child care is available so 
that parents in today’s 24-hour economy can access 
high-quality care when and where they need it, dur-
ing weekends, nights, and as their job schedules 
change, with options in a mixed-delivery system 
across school, center, and home settings; 
(4) guarantee that all families eligible for child 
care will receive it, by investing in the expansion of 
child care supply and creating a system that is ap-
propriately funded to meet the need of families in 
the United States; 
(5) improve the quality of child care by guaran-
teeing child care workers a living wage and wage 
parity with K–12 staff for those with equivalent edu-
cation and experience, by improving training oppor-
tunities, by investing in long overdue infrastructure 
upgrades to child care facilities, and by giving work-
ers a voice on the job to advocate for higher work-
place standards and standards of care for the chil-
dren they serve; 
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•HRES 1443 IH 
(6) expand access to full-day, full-school year 
Head Start services, including Early Head Start, 
and high-quality, universal preschool; and 
(7) provide sufficient Federal investment to 
make sure resources for both high-quality jobs and 
affordable child care. 
Æ 
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