Eva M. Clayton: “as we are about to adjourn this year, we have many issues that remain to be dealt with, but one in particular I want to…”

“as we are about to adjourn this year, we have many issues that remain to be dealt with, but one in particular I want to lift up is the whole issue of child care. Recently, the President had a conference on child care, and certainly child care is an important, needed commodity for millions of children whose parents work outside the home. I am delighted that the President indeed focused the administration on this issue, but I am also saddened that we have not gone further here in Congress ourselves. More than 12 million children under the age of 5, including half of the infants under the age of 1 year of age, spend at least part of their day each day away from their home. A well trained, competent child care provider is crucial to the health and the welfare of our children. There are millions of additional children under the age of 12 in the United States who are in some form of child care at the beginning or at the end of their school day. Working parents, regardless of their income, including working parents of poor and welfare-to-work, are beginning to find it far more difficult to find high quality day care. The availability of child care that is reliable and convenient is essential if we are going to have opportunities for our children.”