RELEASE: REP. RO KHANNA INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO PROVIDE OPTION OF $10 PER DAY CHILD CARE AND A $24/HR WAGE FLOOR FOR CHILD CARE WORKERS

Washington, DC - Today, Representative Ro Khanna (CA-17), Co-Chair of the Congressional Bipartisan Affordable Childcare Caucus, introduced the Child Care for America Act to offer incentives to providers to lower costs to $10 per day for families and increase the pay floor for childcare workers to $24 an hour.

As of 2021, the average annual cost of center-based infant care exceeded $12,000 nationwide - with costs in some states reaching over $20,000. Even with the high costs to families, wages for child care workers is in the lowest 5% of all occupations. Nationally, workers earn a median hourly wage of just $14.60, resulting in high turnover and staffing shortages.

The Child Care for America Act turns childcare into essential infrastructure. With around $780 billion over a 10 year span, the federal government would create funding programs for traditional child care settings, grants for stay-at-home parents, and compensation programs for kin caregivers. This legislation builds off of precedents including the nationwide system being rolled out in Canada, and Massachusetts' bipartisan-passed Commonwealth Cares for Children grant program.

"Child care is an essential need for almost all parents, yet it's out of reach for the majority of hard-working Americans," said Rep. Ro Khanna. "With a perfect storm of high costs, limited access, and shortage of child care workers, parents are struggling. We have to establish a child care model where parents are not forced to sacrifice their career or dip into their savings to pay and workers are paid a family-supporting wage. The Child Care for America Act will provide families with affordable, flexible options to meet their needs - whether that's traditional child care settings, support for stay-at-home parents, or compensation for kin caregivers."

The Child Care for America Act also includes:

• Child Care Facilities Fund:$2 billion annually to support improvements and expansion of child care infrastructure.

• The Home-Based Child Care Training and Support Fund: allocates $750 million annually, provides resources for family child care providers as well as informal caregivers.

• Child Care Innovation Fund: provides $250 million annually to encourage creative approaches to increasing child care supply and quality, particularly in underserved areas.

• The Stay-at-Home Parent Child Care Stipend Program: allocates$6 billion annually to provide a monthly stipend of $300 per child under the age of 3 to eligible families who opt out of using external child care services. To qualify, families must have an adjusted gross income not exceeding $75,000 for single parents or $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.

• The Kin Care for Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) Program: This program establishes a framework for compensating close family members - initially grandparents, aunts, and uncles - who regularly provide primary child care.

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