View Video of Senator Rosen’s Questioning HERE
WASHINGTON, DC – During a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) urged the passage of her bipartisan legislation that would help lower child care costs for hardworking families. Her Small Business Child Care Investment Act with Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) would increase the availability of affordable, high-quality child care by allowing non-profit providers to participate in the same loan programs from the Small Business Administration that for-profit child care providers have access to. The legislation passed out of committee last year, and it’s awaiting a vote in the U.S. Senate.
Below is an excerpt from Senator Rosen’s questioning:
Senator Rosen: Senator Ernst, one of our favorite bills we have together, the Small Business Childcare Investment Act. I know she has referred to it. But this is really, as you just said, the crux, a foundational issue for all of us. So I mentioned when Administrator Guzman came before the committee last month, the lack of access to affordable childcare. Like I said, you just alluded to – it’s a crisis that demands immediate action. Infant child care in Nevada – it costs families over $13,000 a year on average. And the rising cost of child care – it’s financially squeezing parents across the state and across the country. And like I said, I am going to keep mentioning our Small Business Childcare Investment Act until we get that passed because it is, I think it will be a game changer. And it’s going to increase the availability of affordable, high-quality childcare for working families by for the first time allowing nonprofit providers to have the same access to SBA loan programs as for-profit providers. That’s a game changer. It’s been over 260 days since that legislation passed out of this committee. There is no excuse for finally getting this long-past due bill across the finish line.
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