Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on the President's Child Care Budget

February 8, 2008 -- "I am disappointed to see that the President has continued to ignore America's neediest families by freezing appropriated funding for child care assistance for low-income families for the seventh consecutive year, even as the percentage of children under six with only working parents has grown.

According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, after adjusting for inflation, child care funding has already fallen by almost 17 percent since 2002. According to the Administration’s own data, 200,000 fewer children in low-income families would receive federal child care assistance in 2009 than in 2007, under the President’s budget.

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The President's budget also severs discretionary funding for the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) by $41 million below the level needed to maintain current services. These cuts translate into a $2,064,000 cut for New York State alone.

We need to be expanding opportunities for child care, not depriving hard-working parents of opportunities to keep their jobs and know that their children are safe and well taken care of. Affordable, accessible, and high quality child care is critical to ensuring that young children receive the early learning experiences necessary to succeed when they enter school. That's why I introduced the Quality Child Care for America Act - legislation that invests in quality child care by funding workforce development initiatives and workforce enhancement for child care providers, who all too often lack the training and resources they need to ensure high quality care for our children. I will continue to work in the Senate to ensure that these short-sighted budget cuts don’t leave millions of children and families without quality child care."

Source: Senator Hillary Clinton