Congresswoman Katherine Clark proudly serves the Fifth District of Massachusetts. She was first elected in a special election in December of 2013. Katherine’s career in public service is driven by her commitment to helping children and families succeed. She is a vocal advocate for ending wage discrimination, protecting women’s health care, access to affordable, high-quality child care, paid family leave, safer schools, and other reforms to address the challenges women and families face. She believes that Congress must work to end the glaring disconnect between the needs of families at home and priorities in Washington.
Child care is fundamental to our families and our economy. The U.S. child care industry supports more than $99 billion in total economic activity. In addition to its valuable role in our economy, access to child care enables parents to provide for their families and women to enter and stay in the workforce. Child care is also central to the development and future success of our children. Simply put, child care is essential.
But despite the vital role it plays in our communities and economy, child care in the U.S. has long been underfunded and undervalued, and this has only been exacerbated by the pandemic.
Now, the child care sector is at a breaking point, and we cannot afford to let it fall through the cracks. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, my focus is expanding funding to ensure all families have access to quality, affordable child care through the Child Care Development Block Grant and the Head Start program.
My bill, the Child Care is Infrastructure Act, is a comprehensive child care package that makes critical investments in child care facilities and the early education workforce, which will in turn lower costs for families.
Just like roads and bridges, child care is fundamental infrastructure to our economy. We must finally start treating it that way - for our kids, families and our economy.