Rep. Sara Jacobs Co-Leads Bicameral Legislation to Avoid Child Care Cliff
Rep. Sara Jacobs (CA-51) helped introduce bicameral legislation today to avoid the child care cliff that could force 3.2 million children, including 83,417 children in California, to lose their child care and 70,000 child care programs across the country to close. The Child Care Stabilization Act would extend funding for Child Care Stabilization grants, which kept the child care sector from collapsing during the COVID-19 pandemic, at a rate of $16 billion per year through Fiscal Year 2029.
Whip Katherine Clark, and Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Bobby Scott, Suzanne Bonamici, Jamaal Bowman, Jimmy Gomez, and Mikie Sherrill co-lead the legislation in the House. Senators Patty Murray and Bernie Sanders lead the companion legislation in the Senate.
Rep. Sara Jacobs said, “House Republicans’ silence and inaction on the impending child care cliff is deafening. In San Diego, it’s already incredibly hard to find and afford child care, but allowing this crucial funding to expire would worsen the already-dire crisis and hurt women the most. It would force caregivers to leave the workforce and child care providers to close their doors, stifling the economic progress that we’ve made since the pandemic. That’s why we need to immediately pass the Child Care Stabilization Act to protect these jobs, this essential care, and our economic recovery. This is so much bigger than politics and I hope our Republican colleagues will join us in immediately passing our bill and extending this emergency child care support.”
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