NAEYC CHILDREN’S CHAMPIONS UPDATE
July 27, 2012
- Senate Votes Against Extension of Tax Cuts for More Than $250,000 Earners
- Bill to Make Infant/Toddler Child Care Set Aside Part of Statute
- Federal Reserve Chairman Speaks Out on the Value of Early Childhood Education
YOUR CALLS WORKED – Fairer Revenue Raising Passes in Senate; Next Steps
Thank you for all your calls. The bill to let the 2001 and 2003 tax breaks continue for people earning over $250,000 a year failed, and the alternative to let the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire for those earning over $250,000 a year did pass. The votes were pretty much (although not exclusively) on party lines. As you know, fair raising of more revenue is important in order to help meet unmet basic needs for children and families in the future.
So what happens next?
Now that the Senate has acted, we turn to the House of Representatives. We will send you another alert and let you know how to contact your Representative.
Congress has to deal with this issue by the end of calendar year 2012 or all of the cuts (those that benefit higher-income and moderate–income individuals) will expire. This will come up right before the sequestration (large cuts in every program except a few like Social Security and Medicaid) in January 2013. We expect a more serious attempt to come to an agreement will happen after the November election, in what is known as a “lame duck” session of Congress.
BILL TO MAKE INFANT/TODDLER CHILD CARE SET ASIDE PART OF STATUTE
For years, the Appropriations Committees of Congress have provided additional funds to help improve child care for infants and toddlers through the Child Care & Development Block Grant (CCDBG). On July 25th, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) introduced a bill (S. 3436), co-sponsored by Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), to make that part of the CCDBG statute. States would have flexibility on which of the following types of improvements they spend the funds: 1) Using high-quality child care centers as a resource to other providers in neighborhoods and communities to improve early care and development services to low-income infants and toddlers; 2) Creating networks of family child care providers with staff who give them support in delivering quality services; 3) Helping providers serving low-income families move up the quality ladder; 4) Using networks of infant-toddler specialists around the state to provide hands-on training, coaching, and assistance to increase providers’ understanding of how to support the development of infants and toddlers; and 5) Developing components that recognize the unique developmental needs of infants and toddlers in quality improvement systems, licensing regulations, and voluntary early learning guidelines. NAEYC was pleased to work with Senator Franken and ZERO TO THREE, National Women's Law Center and the Center for Law & Social Policy to shape this bill for introduction.
FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN BERNANKE SPEAKS ON IMPORTANCE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Earlier this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke on the “return on investment” of early childhood education as part of the Children’s Defense Fund’s national conference. You can read and view the speech here.
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