Pascrell Tours Clifton Center for Family Resources

Highlights congressional efforts to strengthen child care for middle- and low-income New Jersey families

CLIFTON, NJ – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) today toured the Mychal Judge wing of the Center for Family Resources in Clifton and met with Center officials to discuss their work and highlight congressional efforts to increase resources for child care facilities like Clifton’s.

“The Family Resource Center does work that is invaluable for families in our community. But we must do more in Congress to help New Jerseyans bear the burden,” said Rep. Pascrell, a leading supporter in Congress for increasing federal child care support to needy families. “Child care is often either too expensive or simply unavailable to millions of families. My hometown Paterson is a child care desert where only 12% of children have access to a slot in child care, a pathetic number. This summer, the House Ways and Means Committee on which I serve approved a $1 billion increase to fund the Child Care Entitlement to States as well a further tax relief for families to afford child care – but it isn’t enough. We cannot rest until we make paid family leave the standard everywhere so parents can stay home with their children without fear of losing their job. That remains my goal.”

Rep. Pascrell is an original cosponsor of H.R. 1185, the FAMILY Act, which would provide workers with comprehensive paid family and medical leave. The bill would create an affordable and self-sustaining national family and medical leave insurance fund to provide workers with a portion of their wages for a limited period of time (up to 60 workdays, or 12 weeks in a year) to address their own serious health condition, including pregnancy or childbirth; to deal with the serious health condition of a parent, spouse, domestic partner or child; to care for a new child; and/or for specific military caregiving and leave purposes. This legislation is still being assessed in the Ways and Means Committee.

Rep. Pascrell is a supporter of H.R. 3298, the Child Care Quality and Access Act. The legislation, which was passed by the full Ways and Means Committee in June 2019, would increase funding by $1 billion for the Child Care Entitlement to States (CCES) – the mandatory component of the Child Care and Development Block Grant program. CCES directly appropriates $2.9 billion in annual mandatory child care funding for states to use with their own child care systems and $162.4 million to New Jersey. It was last reauthorized in 2014.

Pascrell voted in favor of H.R. 3845, the Economic Mobility Act, which included a provision that would make the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) fully refundable to ensure it is available to low- and middle-income families with a lower or no tax liability. The bill also doubles the amount of child and dependent care expenses that are eligible for the credit to $6,000 for one qualifying individual and $12,000 for two or more qualifying individuals. With Pascrell’s support, the legislation was approved by the Ways and Means Committee in June 2019.

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