IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1036 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that all young children 
and families should have access to high-quality, affordable childcare and 
early education. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 6, 2022 
Ms. BONAMICI (for herself, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. 
RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. NORTON, Mr. BOWMAN, 
Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. JACOBS of California, Mrs. HAYES, Mrs. 
MCBATH, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. JONES, Mr. POCAN, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. 
ADAMS, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. CLARKE of 
New York, Ms. NEWMAN, and Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Edu-
cation and Labor 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
all young children and families should have access to 
high-quality, affordable childcare and early education. 
Whereas today’s working parents depend on high-quality 
childcare so they can work and support their families; 
Whereas approximately 15,700,000 children under five are in 
a regular childcare arrangement; 
Whereas even before the COVID–19 pandemic, the United 
States economy lost $57,000,000,000,000 annually in un-
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realized earnings, productivity, and revenue because of 
the childcare crisis; 
Whereas the Department of Health and Human Services rec-
ommends that no more than 7 percent of household in-
come go toward childcare payments; however, middle-in-
come families spend as much as 14 percent on childcare 
and low-income families spend approximately 35 percent 
of their income on childcare; 
Whereas childcare is difficult to find for millions of families, 
when only 8 percent of childcare 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 childcare deserts; 
Whereas more than 50 percent of American families live in 
childcare deserts, including every county in Oregon which 
is a childcare desert for infant and toddler care; 
Whereas, between 2010 and 2020, the cost of childcare in-
creased by 25 percent; 
Whereas families of color face income gaps that make high- 
quality childcare even less affordable for the parents and 
guardians of Black, Indigenous, and other children of 
color; 
Whereas high-quality childcare and early education, especially 
for disadvantaged children, such as Head Start and 
Early Head Start, help children thrive in school and be-
yond; 
Whereas high-quality childcare improves children’s early 
learning, cognitive and language development, and social 
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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 (CCDBG), the primary source of Federal fund-
ing support, exclude most American children from Fed-
eral childcare assistance; 
Whereas CCDBG serves only a fraction of families, with just 
one in nine eligible children under age six receiving Fed-
eral childcare 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 
childcare for their children; 
Whereas the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the average 
hourly wage of childcare workers is $12.24; 
Whereas the vast majority of the childcare workforce is com-
prised of women, overwhelmingly women of color; 
Whereas Black childcare providers earn an average of 78 
cents less per hour than their White counterparts; 
Whereas increased pay for workers in the childcare and early 
education sectors improves the quality and continuity of 
care for young children, helps centers hire new staff and 
improve conditions for children, and reflects the value of 
caregivers’ highly skilled work; 
Whereas a survey from the National Association for the Edu-
cation of Young Children found 4 in 5 childcare centers 
are understaffed; 
Whereas to recruit and retain a qualified childcare workforce 
for young children, childcare and preschool workers with 
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equivalent education and experience should be paid as 
much as K–12 staff; 
Whereas a full-time living wage is needed for all childcare 
workers to meet their families’ essential needs, yet nearly 
half of childcare workers currently receive Federal income 
assistance to support their families’ well-being; 
Whereas the Office of the Inspector General for the Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services found that in 96 
percent of unannounced site visits in 9 States and 1 ter-
ritory, there were 1 or more instances of potentially haz-
ardous conditions and noncompliance with critical health 
and safety requirements; 
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 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 childcare 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 ten percent, in ma-
ternal labor force participation; 
Whereas universal preschool programs for three- and four- 
year-olds provide a particularly important opportunity for 
fostering racial and socioeconomic diversity because they 
allow students of all backgrounds to enroll for free; 
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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 childcare 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 childcare system is also an issue of racial 
justice; 
Whereas making sure families of color have access to high- 
quality, affordable childcare and preschool will help dis-
mantle the systemic underinvestment in families and 
workers of color; 
Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic exacerbated existing prob-
lems in childcare and created new challenges, including 
providing safe emergency care while providers are strug-
gling with significant reductions in revenue; 
Whereas, according to a 2022 study conducted by Child Care 
Aware of America, 16,000 childcare providers perma-
nently closed between December 2019 and March 2021; 
and 
Whereas an analysis by the Center for American Progress es-
timated that, without adequate public support, 4,500,000 
childcare slots could be lost permanently: Now, therefore, 
be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives should 
pass robust childcare legislation that will stabilize the 
childcare industry and that will— 
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(1) provide childcare assistance to all families 
that need it, especially low- and middle-income fami-
lies who struggle to afford the cost of high-quality 
childcare and who are too often left behind; 
(2) make childcare affordable, with no family 
having to pay more than 7 percent of their income 
for childcare, and families most in need paying noth-
ing; 
(3) make sure that childcare is available so that 
parents in today’s 24-hour economy can access high- 
quality care when and where they need it, during 
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 
childcare will receive it, by investing in the expan-
sion of childcare supply and creating a system that 
is appropriately funded to meet the need of Amer-
ica’s families; 
(5) improve the quality of childcare by guaran-
teeing childcare workers a living wage and wage par-
ity 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 childcare facilities, and by giving work-
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ers a voice on the job to advocate for higher work-
place standards and standards of care for the chil-
dren they serve; 
(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 childcare. 
Æ 
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