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Today, the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee held a hearing titled "Supporting Working Families: State-Led Child Care Solutions."

Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Kiley (I-CA) started the hearing by explaining how innovation in child care keeps America’s workforce strong.

“The states represented here today are demonstrating what long-term commitment can look like, not because government funding is guaranteed forever, but because supporting child care strengthens the workforce, improves productivity, and fuels local economic growth. Their examples show what is possible when innovation and responsibility meet, and we hope they will inspire other states to follow their path. Because when child care works, parents can work, businesses can grow, and communities can thrive,” he said.

Witnesses discussed the success of various child care programs in their states.

“…we are very proud that [we] received an additional $5 million state dollars invested in our Smart Steps program, or what you may know as our certificate subsidy program. This program is wonderful, but we did not want to see families penalized when something good happens: a promotion, a marriage, a pay increase! Without this investment, families would be required to lose their child care payment assistance when they cross the 85th percentile of state median income. Instead, now, we’re not penalizing those families but are ACTUALLY encouraging people to grow their capacity and reduce dependency,” said Ms. Jude White, Assistant Commissioner for Child Care and Community Services at the Tennessee Department of Human Services.
Ms. Ryan Page, Director of Child Care at the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, told Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC) how states and local leaders understand their families and workforce needs and should have the flexibility to develop solutions—including expanding the supply of care where options are scarce.

“We need to focus on our local communities and driving what they indicate is necessary for their local communities. What is needed in Des Moine is not going to be the same as a rural community in Iowa,” she said.

In an exchange with Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI), Ms. Kate Shanks, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, explained how policies like expanded tax credits are supporting innovation in child care solutions while allowing flexibility.

“As we continue to look at programming at the federal, state, [and] local level we need to remember that there are employers that are going to roll up their sleeves, that are in communities where there is maybe a lack of child care, and they are going to go build it,” she said.

Rep. Mark Messmer (R-IN) asked witnesses about regulatory burdens that stifle child care options rather than expanding options.

“[In] after and before school programming, they were being held to a higher regulatory standard in a gymnasium and cafeteria in after school care than they were during the school day…we’re currently focused on reducing state regulations for relative child care providers…[For example,] a grandmother watching her grandchild should not be subject to onerous regulation simply because she’s accepting subsidy,” said Ms. Page.

Ms. Page also told Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) about how employer engagement is driving innovation in this space.

“We want to educate our businesses about the types of child care resources that are available to them and to their employees and then share data that helps them understand the complexity of the landscape of their workforce. They can only build capacity for the workforce that they serve when they understand the data behind it,” she said.

Bottom line: Child care is a family issue, a workforce issue, and an economic issue. Committee Republicans are looking at ways to empower parents and help states, employers, providers, and communities build solutions that work.