WASHINGTON – Moments ago, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate released the final details of an end-of-year pandemic relief package, which includes $10 billion in funding to stabilize the child care industry. 

Shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a coalition of the country’s leading child care, business, and child advocacy organizations came together to launch Child Care Relief—a campaign to ensure federal lawmakers prioritize and address the needs of child care providers and families in COVID-19 economic relief efforts – and beyond. 

There has been universal agreement among lawmakers and voters alike that child care providers need relief, with emergency funding for child care included in every economic recovery proposal out of the House, Senate, and White House since Congress passed the CARES Act in March. Since then, lawmakers have failed to reach a deal on subsequent relief efforts until today. According to a national poll conducted in July, more than 8 in 10 voters favor a federal child care stabilization fund in the COVID-19 recovery package, with overwhelming support across partisan lines, generations, and genders. 

COVID-19 has created an acute child care crisis for American families, providers, and businesses, but the pandemic is not fully to blame. In recent decades, the exponential increase in demand for quality child care has far outpaced the growth in supply, creating a significant financial burden for families who rely on care out of economic necessity. At the same time, child care is an expensive, specialized service to deliver, and providers must strike a hard balance of earning a profit while keeping care affordable for the families they serve. The average cost of center-based child care in America is close to $10,000 per year – more than in-state college tuition in a majority of states. This pandemic has only exacerbated the realities of a child care system that was struggling financially.

Without question, however, the pandemic has pushed the child care industry to the brink of collapse, creating a dire situation for child care providers, working families, and our overall economic recovery:

• Child care providers are facing a 47 percent increase in operating costs due to the pandemic while enrollment is down an average of 67 percent compared to pre-COVID levels.
• 70 percent of parents report that their child care programs are closed or are operating at reduced capacity, and 44 percent of parents found that the lack of child care resources was a barrier to remote or in-person work.
• About one in five working-age adults said the reason they can’t work is the disruption to their child care arrangements created by the pandemic. Among those not working, women ages 25 to 44 are almost three times as likely as men not to be working due to child care demands.
• 76 percent of mothers with children under age 10 say child care has been among their top three challenges during the pandemic.

A new national survey of more than 6,000 child care providers conducted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) found that many of them will not be able to remain open without significant public investment. NAEYC found that 44% of providers are confronting so much uncertainty that they are unable to say how much longer they will be able to stay open.

Child care providers have been struggling to make ends meet due to the fallout from the pandemic.The survey found that one-in-four centers and one-in-three child care homes will have to close in the next three months if enrollment remains at current levels, a figure which rises to 51% for minority-owned businesses. Meanwhile, operating costs have skyrocketed, with 91% of providers having to pay more for cleaning supplies and 60% paying additional costs for staff/personnel. 

As a result, providers have had to resort to desperate measures to stay open, with 42% taking on debt for their programs by putting supplies or other items on their own personal credit cards and 39% dipping into their own savings accounts to try to meet families’ childcare needs. 

However, this survey draws from the experience of the childcare providers who have been fortunate enough to stay open. Thousands of providers have already gone out of business, making the magnitude of the childcare crisis much greater and complicating our economic recovery. Access to quality, affordable child care is key to working parents and our economic recovery from COVID-19, which is why Congress needs to include dedicated child care relief in the next stimulus package. 

The full release is available here. 

Building on previous research, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation recently released new data outlining the pandemic’s continued pressure on working parents and employers. 

The survey, conducted in September and October, found that child care remains a challenge for working parents — and also impacts employers. In an earlier summer survey, 24% of employers reported they were concerned that employees may need to leave the workforce because of the pandemic. In the Foundation’s recent survey, 32% of employers have seen some of their employees leave the workforce due to the effects of COVID-19.

And while employees, especially mothers, may be leaving the workforce, parents remaining in the workforce are also debating working fewer hours. This attrition is especially pronounced in certain sectors of the economy including education and health care. In health care, more than three-quarters of employers reporting employee departures cite child care concerns as a contributing factor. 

The vast majority, 89%, of employers feel aware of the child care needs of their employees. Employers reported supporting working parents in numerous ways, most commonly by providing flexible working hours and remote work as additional child care benefits. 28% of employers also reported offering paid leave as another support. 

The Foundation’s survey found that many employers were willing to increase their investment in child care to meet the needs of their workforce, but were unsure of how to support working parents or were unsure they would be able to afford additional assistance. 49% of employers would be likely to provide additional child care assistance if the government offered supplementary incentives. 

As the country considers our long-term economic recovery, child care remains essential. You can view the complete report here. 

The “compromise” pandemic relief legislation under consideration in Congress includes only $10 billion in funding for child care — considerably less than any previous measure from Democrats or Republicans. If lawmakers are going to reach a deal on COVID-19 relief, it’s going to happen in the next few days. 

Here’s where things currently stand on child care: 

• Senate proposal: $15 billion
• House proposal: $50 billion
• New “compromise” proposal: $10 billion

Now is not the time to short-change America’s child care providers, who desperately need relief if they are to remain in business amid this economic crisis. Our economic recovery cannot succeed if millions of working parents are unable to work, due to child care challenges.

Tweet or email your lawmakers and tell them the Senate’s $15 billion child care relief proposal is the LOWEST they should consider.