Press Releases

WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, Rep. French Hill (AR-02) published a video in response to the House of Representatives passing H.R. 7027 - Child Care is Essential ActandH.R. 7327 - Child Care for Economic Recovery Act. Click here, or on the image below, to watch Rep. Hill's message about the need for bipartisan legislation to help American families and child care providers.


A transcript of Rep. Hill's message is copied below: 

Over the last five years, Republicans and Democrats have worked together to improve child care for millions of Americans. We have increased funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant and we've included $3.5 billion in the recently passed CARES Act for much-needed support to child care providers and essential workers. We have made child care one of our top priorities. 

Due to the coronavirus, child care providers are facing new challenges like operating at reduced capacity due to restrictions on group and class sizes. 

Everyone agrees that access to quality child care is essential to our nation’s successful recovery. 

We also agree that Congress has an important role to play in providing necessary and targeted relief. 

Millions of Americans want and need to return to work and they must rely on child care to keep their children safe and healthy. 

Unfortunately, Democrats have decided to abandon working with Republicans and have passed two partisan bills that just recklessly throw money at a problem. 

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the progressive policies in these bills will cost taxpayers more than $165 billion over the next ten years including through autopilot spending.

This is unacceptable. And, it’s just more election year posturing. 

American families deserve policies that are both thoughtful and bipartisan. The bills passed by the House today are not that.

These bills were never debated in committee – where the real work is done and where both Republicans and Democrats have a voice. 

Instead of these partisan bills, I am proud to co-sponsor the Back to Work Child Care Grants Act. It allows states to design state-specific plans to support child care centers operating in their states. It also provides standards needed for a safe return to the child care setting.

This is just one of the bills House Republicans have introduced to address the real needs of American families and child care providers. I invite House Democrats to work with us on a bipartisan basis to improve these bills – rather than spending precious time passing legislation that might be popular in New York and California but have no chance of passing the Senate or being signed into law.