Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I am a mother myself. My children are now 27 and 30 years old, but I distinctly remember how challenging it was to have children in a two-parent working family. I was a lawyer before I came to Congress, and I distinctly remember the panic when I had to bring my very active toddler son to court with me because his preschool was suddenly closed. I really feel for people who have ongoing issues finding affordable, reliable childcare. More than 38,000 children in Pennsylvania are waitlisted; 1,600 classrooms have closed; and hundreds of childcare positions remain unfilled. In my district in the Lehigh Valley, more than 1,500 children are waitlisted, and Carbon County is classified as a childcare desert. The childcare crisis isn't just hard on parents. It is hard on childcare providers, too. Early childcare workers in my district make just $28,000 to $32,000 compared with their elementary school peers making $52,000. The Childcare for Working Families Act introduced yesterday on a bicameral basis would help open more care providers and lower costs for parties, capping costs at 7 percent of a family's income. Putting money back in parents' pockets, raising wages for hardworking care providers, and giving kids more quality early childhood education--that is working for people. ____________________”