Gottheimer announces Childcare Affordability Plan

NEW JERSEY — U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) Tuesday announced his new, three-part Childcare Affordability Plan to help parents go to work and ensure their children have the care they deserve and need to grow and learn safely, especially during their most critical developmental years.

It not only includes support for the costs of childcare, but it also helps childcare centers recruit and pay for providers, which is a huge issue right now. It also ensures we do everything we can for the hardest-pressed families with additional support for Head Start.

Gottheimer also highlighted a nearly $200,000 federal Childcare Stabilization Grant clawed back for the Ridgewood YMCA. This grant was critical to keeping employees on the payroll, upgrading classrooms, and purchasing supplies, insurance, and more.

Skyrocketing Childcare Costs: 

• Jersey was ranked the second most expensive state in the country for childcare last year, costing $442.19 per week on average. The average annual price of center-based infant care is more than $17,000 — more than 50% of the salary of someone earning minimum wage. Across the nation, from 2019 to just this past October alone, the average cost of childcare is up 32 percent.
• The American Rescue Plan, which temporarily expanded the Child Tax Credit for 2021, helped more than 61 million children, lifting nearly four million out of poverty — cutting child poverty in half nationally, including a 48 percent reduction in New Jersey.
• Just this past September, far-right extremists let another vital investment lapse — Childcare Stabilization Grants. As a direct consequence, more than 3 million children are projected to lose access to childcare nationwide and 70,000 childcare programs are likely to close. In New Jersey, more than 1,300 childcare programs are expected to close, and more than 100,000 kids are set to lose childcare.
• Jersey parents are expected to lose $378.5 million dollars in earnings as a result of being forced to cut work hours or leave the workforce and take care of their children.

Gottheimer Childcare Affordability Plan: 

1. Today, along with New York Congressman Mike Lawler, Gottheimer sent a letter to House and Senate tax negotiators to include an expanded Child Tax Credit in ongoing tax package negotiations for Jersey parents and families across the nation. Congress must take decisive action to tackle skyrocketing childcare costs.
2. Gottheimer’s plan calls for fully restoring and implementing the Childcare Stabilization Grants, which expired last year.

• Without these grants, more than 1,000 childcare centers in New Jersey alone may be forced to shut their doors.
• Gottheimer is co-leading the Child Care Stabilization Act, which would inject $300 million into childcare in New Jersey, helping 4,400 providers afford to operate, from supplies to staff costs to training, and serve 350,000 Jersey children.

3. Gottheimer’s plan also focuses on helping the hardest-pressed families.

• Gottheimer has fought to expand investments in Head Start, a vital program that helps our most vulnerable children with everything from early learning and development to childcare to health and wellness.
• Gottheimer called on Congressional leaders to provide robust investment this year for the Administration for Children and Families, which administers Head Start. Since Gottheimer was first elected to Congress, annual funding dedicated to Head Start and Early Head Start, key programs helping our children most in need, has increased by more than $2.7 billion.

“You can see why childcare costs are a huge obstacle to working, and why it has a real impact on our state’s economy and our families’ pocketbooks. Jersey parents are expected to lose more than $378 million dollars in earnings as a result of being forced to cut work hours or leave the workforce altogether to care for their children. That’s unacceptable and we need to be focused on making life more affordable,” Gottheimer said. “It’s why today I’m proudly announcing my Childcare Affordability Plan to help parents go to work and ensure their children have the care they deserve and need to grow and learn safely, during their most critical developmental years.”

Gottheimer Accomplishments in Addressing Child Care Costs:

• In 2020, as Co-Chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, working with the Senate, Gottheimer helped write, negotiate, and pass the CARES II Act, which provided critical support to childcare providers to keep their doors open and reduce childcare costs for families.
• Then, in 2021, as families across the nation were struggling during the pandemic, Gottheimer helped lift millions of children out of poverty by passing a historic expansion of the Child Tax Credit in the American Rescue Plan. The expansion temporarily increased the credit to a maximum of $3,600 for children under age 6 and made it fully refundable. This puts money right back in parents’ pockets to allow them to take care of their children. It helped more than a million children in New Jersey.
• Gottheimer has expanded investments in Head Start, and why — as the President’s budget calls for — we must do even more. It’s a vital program that helps our most vulnerable children with everything from early learning and development to childcare to health and wellness. For counties in the Fifth District, we clawed back $77 million for Head Start in 2021 alone.
• Gottheimer sponsored and fought to pass the Child Care for Working Families Act. This comprehensive legislation ensures families can afford the childcare they need, expands access to more high-quality childcare options, works to help stabilize childcare costs, and helps ensure childcare workers taking care of our nation’s kids are paid livable wages.

Gottheimer was joined by Ridgewood Mayor Paul Vagianos, Ridgewood YMCA President and CEO Ramon Hache, Director of Childcare Ridgewood YMCA Kara Aspley, and Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) representative Diane Dellanno.