ST. PAUL — Minnesota's chief executives expressed their support on Monday, Aug. 31, for legislation co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Tina Smith that calls for a $50 billion in new funding for the U.S. child care industry in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking outside of a day care center in northeast Minneapolis Monday morning, Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said that supporting child care providers will ease the burden on heads of households who have either been working throughout the health crisis or are seeking new employment because of it.
"Senator, if you get this thing over the finish line, it will make a big difference," Walz said.
Smith, D-Minn., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced the child care bill in April and are pushing for it to be included in a second pandemic relief package, on which Congress has yet to reach a deal. The bill passed in the House in July.
It proposes, among other things, to support child care providers with grants meant to aid in their operation. Appearing alongside Walz and Flanagan on Monday, Smith said that the low-paying field relies on working women of color and suggested that the grants be used to improve their wages and to pay for personal protective equipment.
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The median pay for U.S. child care workers in 2019 was about $11.65 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, or about $24,320 a year.
Monday marked at least the second time that Walz and other state officials publicly called for the federal government to provide pandemic relief. Earlier this month, the governor and others urged lawmakers to continue making enhanced unemployment insurance payouts first offered in the initial coronavirus aid package.
President Donald Trump would later replace the enhancement with one for less money after Congress reached an impasse on the second round of relief. Minnesota's application for the new enhancement was approved over the weekend.
Housing advocates and nonprofit officials lately have made similar calls for Congress to act on new aid measures, saying out-of-work Minnesotans could go hungry or homeless without them.
Smith acknowledged the gridlock Monday, and chastised Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for allowing the Senate to adjourn before a deal with the House on a second relief package could be reached.
" Mitch McConnell ought to call us back today so we can pass this next round of COVID relief, which is so desperately needed," she said.
Minnesota has already spent some of the money set aside for the state in the initial relief package for a child care grant program of its own. Flanagan said that program helped to preserve spots for 76,000 children in Minnesota day cares.
But without further assistance, some households and child care providers may face additional financial difficulties in the new year, officials said Monday, when some of the funding programs established during the pandemic are due to sunset.
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"Parents need to know that their children are cared for and safe, so they can go forward and work and support their families," she said.
