Sens. Barbara Mikulski,D-MD., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa., at a press conference at the Capitol Tuesday. (Jonathan Palmer/Medill News Service)
WASHINGTON — A bill to reauthorize major child care legislation will be voted on this week in the Senate with a key Republican joining Democrats to champion the proposal after years of inaction.
The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 would update and renew the original law, which has been up for authorization since 2002. Key updates to the bill include funding for new nutrition guidelines, requiring states to explain how they would meet the needs of children with disabilities and requiring background checks for individuals who provide child care. States also would be required to conduct annual inspections of child care providers.
The bill would provide funding for low-income families who depend on child care services in order for them to work or attend school.
In a rare show of bipartisanship, Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., pushed for the bill’s passage at a Tuesday news conference. Harkins is chairman of the Senate education committee and Alexander is the top Republican on the committee. Mikulski and Burr have played similar roles on the committee’s children and families subcommittee.
“The last time we reauthorized this bill was in 1996,” Harkin said at a press conference Tuesday. “Back then child care was seen as a work support activity and only incidentally something that would have a great impact on the growth of our children.”
Cathy Rivera, a community resource and referral specialist at CentroNía, a multicultural child care center in Washington, benefited from the law as a single mother.
“I know if it passes it would help more mothers and fathers…that are trying to work and provide for their children and it would help them tremendously,” Rivera said. “If it wasn’t for the subsidy program, I would not have money to pay for [my son] to do a gold star program.”
