Congress proposes $10 billion in relief for the child-care industry, but advocates say it’s only a ‘down payment’ - CNBC
By Megan Leonhardt
Although the vast majority of child-care programs opened back up after the spring stay-at-home orders lifted, many daycare center and preschool owners are taking on huge financial losses — both personal and professional.
To help, lawmakers reached a deal Sunday on a $900 billion Covid-19 pandemic relief package that provides $10 billion in funding for the industry, including $250 million for the Head Start program. The bulk of the funding will go toward the Child Care & Development Block Grant (CCDBG) to fund grants for child-care providers, which they can use to stabilize their businesses in a number of ways, including making payroll, purchasing sanitization supplies and even spending on fixed costs such as rent.
Lawmakers allocated $284 billion in loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, specifically noting that child-care programs would be eligible for these funds. The bill also makes updates to the child tax credit, making it more accessible to people whose incomes fell during the pandemic.
However, both proponents in Congress and industry advocates say that amount isn’t enough to keep child-care providers in business for long.
“Child care is the critical infrastructure that we have to make a significant investment in in order to have an economic recovery,” says Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.). While Clark tells CNBC Make It that she’s grateful for the $10 billion in funding, “it’s just not nearly enough to make sure that we have a child-care sector that survives this pandemic.”