Sen. Warren Seeks $50 Billion Child Care Bailout in Next Coronavirus Relief Package

The following is a media release from Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office. She was elected by voters in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to serve the state in Washington DC in the US Senate. She is a Democrat.

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WASHINGTON DC – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) today, April 29, led 29 of their Senate colleagues in calling on Senate leadership to include their plan for a $50 billion child care bailout in the next coronavirus relief package, saying it is indispensable part of the nation’s response to the pandemic.

Earlier this month, Senators Warren and Smith unveiled their plan to stabilize the child care system, keep providers in business, and ensure parents are able to go back to work when it is safe to return.

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A recent report revealed that without adequate support, Massachusetts could lose 34 percent of their child care supply and Minnesota could lose 55 percent. And now, Senators Warren and Smith and their fellow senators are calling on Senate leaders to prioritize this funding in the next relief package, as well as making sure small businesses and nonprofits involved in caring for children receive support from the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program.

“We write to strongly urge you to prioritize funding childcare in the next legislative package that responds to the public health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and emergency,” wrote the senators. 

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“While the $3.5 billion for childcare included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was an important first step in helping to fund childcare for frontline healthcare workers and other essential employees, since its passage, we have only learned more about the extent of closures required by this pandemic and the dire situation that childcare providers are in, which necessitates additional relief.  Accordingly, we urge you to provide at least $50 billion in emergency funding in order to stabilize the entire childcare industry, provide childcare for essential workers including healthcare workers, and invest in childcare for our long-term economic recovery,” wrote the senators.

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The letter to Senate leaders was also signed by Sens. Robert P.Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.).

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