Witness Praises Rosen Bipartisan Legislation To Support Non-Profit Child Care Providers And Make Child Care More Affordable
Watch Video of Senator Rosen’s Remarks HERE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) questioned Rhian Evans Allvin, CEO of National Association for the Education of Young Children, on the shortages in affordable child care and preschool options for parents who work non-traditional hours, such as service industry employees, nurses, and first responders.
Ms. Allvin praised Senator Rosen’s bipartisan Small Business Child Care Investment Act, which could help address this gap in care by making non-profit child care providers eligible to participate in all loan programs available through the Small Business Administration – the same opportunity currently provided to for-profit child care providers.
BELOW IS A TRANSCRIPT OF THE EXCHANGE:
ROSEN: I want you both to speak about the current availability of affordable child care for parents who work non-traditional hours like our firefighters, like our nurses. I’m from the state of Nevada, you know our casino industry, our hotel industry – they’re 24/7/365. The shifts are going all the time. And they have to be able to take care of their families as well. So, Ms. Allvin, what recommendations do you have for Congress to help address this?
ALLVIN: Sure, absolutely. Thank you, Senator. And I’ll quickly say, our Idaho affiliate and our Nevada affiliate support your bill, your bipartisan [Small Business Child Care Investment Act], so thank you very much for that.
You’re right. We’ve never even come close to solving the issue of non-traditional hours, and you think about the service industry – restaurants, casinos– I know for tribes it’s tricky. And so, what we need – much like rural communities, it’s very similar, the solutions are right – it has to be affordable for families, which also creates an issue where there’s got to be enough supply because if families can’t find it, they’re using unlicensed and unregulated care.
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