America’s infant-toddler child care crisis now costs $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue every year.
The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing today on federal policy solutions to the cost of childcare in the U.S. This is a good start, but it's just the beginning...
In case you missed it, something surprisingly productive happened on Capitol Hill today. The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing titled “Examining the State of Child Care: How Federal Policy Solutions Can Support Families, Close Existing Gaps, and Strengthen Economic Growth” You too can listen to it here, but I did, so you don’t really have to :)
One thing I loved about this hearing: four experts were invited to testify, ALL FOUR WERE WOMEN! Not surprising, given the topic, but it is heartening to see women advocating on behalf of an issue that disproportionately impacts the mothers. This issue impacts women who are forced to sacrifice their careers and long-term earning potential when they have children, when they can’t afford childcare, and lack their due recognition of unpaid labor in the home.
The hearing was promising in that the discussion was sober and informed by data. It was also technical, and rife with some of the posturing you see from each side of the aisle in these hearings. However, both Republicans and Democrats agreed that childcare costs are a significant issue in the workforce - so we at least have some common ground to regard this as a policy issue that MUST be addressed. As Fatima Goss Graves said, “Childcare is the work that makes all other work possible.” The title of this post was borrowed from a paper cited during the hearing, from Ready Nation and the Council for a Strong America, which showed that “the nation’s infant-toddler child care crisis now costs $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue every year.”
This hearing was a necessary step in resolving this crisis for working families in America, but now it is our turn to insert our voices into the conversation. For the next two weeks, the Senate will accept written statements from any individual or organization. If you want to get involved I suggest you follow Mothering Forward on Instagram - a really exceptional group of women leading the charge. You can also comment or message me and I will get you in touch!
We CAN advocate for change and make our voices heard. And if we work together, we can change the course of this issue.
(And don’t worry, I am working on an episode on this very topic, so stay tuned!)
It's great that they're talking about it!