John Kerry: “today my colleague Senator Bingaman and I are reintroducing our bill to increase mandatory funding for the Child Care…”

“today my colleague Senator Bingaman and I are reintroducing our bill to increase mandatory funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, CCDBG. Our legislation, the Children First Act would increase the mandatory funding stream of CCDBG by $11.2 billion over the next five years. Congress understands that working families need help paying for child care. Indeed, funding for CCDBG has grown significantly over the past several years. Yet despite these increases, funding still only reaches one in seven eligible children nationwide, leaving approximately 12.9 million eligible children without any assistance. Roughly 500,000 children are on waiting lists for help around the country and 21,000 children are on the waiting list for child care assistance in Massachusetts. The need for child care assistance in Massachusetts is tremendous. Currently, 60 percent of Massachusetts children under age six have mothers in the workforce, and 16.4 percent of Massachusetts children under age five live in poverty. Child care costs at an urban center for a four-year-old averages $8,121 per year and the costs for an infant averages $12,978. That's 223 percent more than the cost of public college tuition in Massachusetts! It's just shocking to me, Mr.…”