Dear Members of Congress:
We write to you as organizations that support accessible, affordable, and high-quality early learning opportunities for all children and families to ask that you support protecting our child care system as Congress considers the FY2025 budget resolution. Cuts to the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs would eliminate child care options that children and families rely on, and we urge you to continue to ensure that these cuts remain out of the reconciliation process and to invest in the child care system children and their families need. These potential cuts would come at a time when funding for Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and other programs that children and families rely on are also threatened. Together, these programs reduce child poverty and food insecurity, provide health care and child protection services, and offer financial security to millions of children and their families. These critical federal lifelines must be protected.
Child care has immense benefits for young children, their families, and early educators. The opportunities children have during their early years play an essential role in reducing racial inequalities and directly impact their long-term health, well-being, and economic outcomes. Child care and other early learning programs also provide families with the opportunity to work or study, support an early learning workforce, and supply crucial infrastructure for the United States’ economy.
Any cuts to TANF and SSBG programs would threaten families’ access to child care. TANF and SSBG provide vital services and programs for families with low incomes, including child care, and children stand to lose the most if these programs are cut. Recent analysis shows that the potential elimination of SSBG and cuts to TANF would eliminate up to 40,000 child care slots across the country. This analysis shows that the states that stand to lose the highest number of child care slots are North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. Our child care system simply cannot afford these drastic cuts, and instead, it needs investments to address the challenges families currently face in accessing care.
Child care is currently neither affordable nor accessible for too many families. The cost of child care for families can be astronomical and continues to climb. In 2023, the cost to a family of child care for two children in a center was more than annual mortgage payments in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Under current funding levels, the largest federal programs for child care are only able to serve a fraction of eligible children - the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) serves 13%, Head Start serves 26%, and Early Head Start serves 10% of eligible young children. Child care is least affordable and accessible for Black, Hispanic, and low-income working parents. Compensation continues to be shockingly low, and educational opportunities too few for early learning educators. And the child care crisis cost $122 billion in earnings, productivity, and revenue each year. This results in a child care system that often cannot serve children, families, educators, or employers well.
Support and funding for child care have long had bipartisan support in Congress. We appreciate the work you and your colleagues have done to ensure increases for important programs like CCDBG in recent years, and we urge you to continue to reject the devastating effect cuts to TANF and SSBG will have on our child care system.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned