Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, childcare is so very neglected--a neglect that has been amplified by this pandemic. Without adequate care, parents simply cannot go back to work. Always essential for economic development, adequately funded, quality childcare is more than daycare, more than babysitting. It should play a key role in educating the next generation. The National Association for the Education of Young Children has estimated that without adequate Federal support, over 4 million American children will lose their childcare this year. In Texas, with Governor Abbott offering inadequate State support, and temporarily, but recklessly, suspending facility safety precautions, like taking temperatures, the lives of children and their families have been endangered with coronavirus infections at more than 1,400 childcare facilities. Our two-pronged legislative approach today cannot undo such ineptness, but it does offer much-needed resources for both childcare providers and parents in making one of their most important investments. This is the first of many steps needed to build an early learning system truly worthy of our youngest children.”