Sen. Franken Pushes Measure to Ensure Minnesota Families Have Access to Affordable, High-Quality Child Care & Preschool

Press Release

As part of the Congressional Democrat's "Better Deal" agenda to support working families in Minnesota and across the country, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) pushed a measure to help ensure that Americans can access affordable, high-quality child care and preschool.

Sen. Franken helped introduce the Child Care for Working Families Act at a Capitol Hill event today with Democratic leaders, where he was also joined by Minnesota teacher and mother-of-two Jessica Honza from Plymouth.

The Child Care for Working Families Act would create a federal-state partnership to help bring child care costs under control for low- and middle-income families. The bill also supports access to high-quality preschool and would improve our nation's child care workforce by significantly improving wages and training for teachers and caregivers.

"I believe that we need a child care system that's affordable, high-quality, and works for all Minnesotans," said Sen. Franken, a member of the Senate Education Committee. "But that's not the case right now for a huge number of families. The cost of child care has jumped by 25 percent in the past decade, forcing more and more parents to choose between going to work and paying for child care. I helped introduce this bill because moms like Jessica Honza from Plymouth deserve a better deal when it comes to accessing affordable child care and preschool. At the bill introduction today, I was proud to stand alongside Jessica as she spoke about her family's difficulty affording skyrocketing child care costs. I'm going to be fighting to pass this bill and many others that support working families in Minnesota."

The Child Care for Working Families Act is a part of the Democrats' broad economic agenda to offer working families a "Better Deal." Affordable child care is just one of many proposals Democrats put forth to build an economy that works for all, not just those at the top. The bill, introduced by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and cosponsored by Sen. Franken, was also backed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn), Martin Heinrich (D-N-Mex.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tom Udall (D-N-Mex.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

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