Representative Carolyn Maloney, (D-NY) spoke out on the lack of childcare options in our country at a news conference last week. Maloney argued that Congress is to blame for not passing quality legislation on childcare issues.
“Nearly five million children aged five to 12 are left home alone after school. Fifty-two percent of moms whose children are under five years old work outside the home. Welfare mothers are required to work and they need child care too,” Maloney stated at the conference.
A proposed day care package tied to a tobacco settlement died in Congress this year. The package would have doubled funding for low-income families, provided tax credits for working families and stay-at-home spouses, granted tax credits for businesses and employers who provide on-site daycare, installed after-school care for up to one million children, and improved childcare safety and early childhood development programs.
Maloney relayed findings from a report by the Comptroller of New York, which found that by the year 2001, welfare to work programs will require the placement of 61,000 children in daycare. Currently, space exists for only 28,000 children.
