Senator Patty Murray Announces New “Murray-Kaine Child Care Reconciliation Plan” In Bid To Get Federal Funding for Child Care

Washington State Senator Patty Murray is one of the few people in Senate history with experience in early childhood education and care as she was a preschool teacher early in her career. It is no surprise that she has consistently been one of the strongest advocates for early education and care in congress. While recent efforts have stalled, Murray along with Senator Kaine have announced the ” Murray-Kaine Child Care Reconciliation Plan” in an effort to get holdouts like Democrat Senator Joe Manchin on board with the plan.

Below are some of the details of the plan provided in a summary from which you can read in its entirety at this link:

“Triples the existing Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) to increase funds to all states. Tripling funding for the existing system enables states to efficiently provide child care subsidies to more low-income working families and raise child care subsidy payment rates to support provider stability and higher wages for staff. This would provide $72 billion in new funding over 6 years.

• Uses CCDBG to fund Supply and Compensation Grants to all states to expand child care supply, improve facilities, and raise compensation for early childhood educators. Provides dedicated funding within CCDBG to provide grants to open new child care providers, support increased compensation for early childhood educators, and ensure child care facilities are safe and developmentally appropriate for children. Prioritizes grants for providers in underserved communities, such as rural communities. As part of the $72 billion in new CCDBG funding, a portion would go to provide $18 billion in dedicated funding over 6 years for supply and compensation.

• Pilots a Child Care and Development Expansion program for 6 years. Pilots a program to complement CCDBG, where participating states can offer child care assistance to families earning up to 250 percent of SMI and cap families’ child care expenses at 7 percent of income on a sliding scale for children ages 0-5. Creates a 2 federal-state cost sharing mechanism, where the federal government covers 90 percent of the cost of high-quality child care services for eligible families. The size of the new program is dial-able and would be structured to fit within the final allocation.

• Invests in High-Quality Preschool Grants. Provides grants to states to establish and expand high quality preschool programs for 3- and 4- year olds. This would provide $18 billion in new funding over 6 years.

 • Invests in raising wages for Head Start teachers. Provides dedicated funding to raise wages for Head Start teachers and staff. This would provide $12 billion in new funding over 6 years. “

 You can also watch Senator Murray discuss child care issues at a recent hearing she chaired in the video below.

Mar 22, 2022 Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, led a hearing focused on the broken child care system and the Democratic plan to lower child care costs, get families more child care options, and boost wages for child care workers—fully paid for by making the wealthiest pay their fair share.