Mike Levin: “we spoke with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Carolyn Becraft. She is in charge of their family program. They…”

“we spoke with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Carolyn Becraft. She is in charge of their family program. They oppose this amendment. When the Senator says he can't believe that the Defense Department would not support this, or the people in charge of families and child care would not support this amendment, we asked them what their position was. Their position is that the child care program is funded in a way to expand the availability of child care in a planned way. I want to emphasize that. We have a significant expansion in child care in the Defense Department underway. It is because of the initiative of many people within the Defense Department and outside, including Members of this body. It is under the supervision of a Secretary of Defense who is totally committed to child care. He showed that when he was in this body, and he has continued to show that as Secretary of Defense. The Defense Department has this significant expansion, which is ongoing in a planned way, and that is why they do not support this additional increase.”