The HEALS Act will offer some relief to the child care sector, but not nearly enough to save our child care system from collapsing. In fact, the Act’s $15 billion investment would keep the system afloat for less than two months and falls far short of the at least $50 billion that is needed to stabilize the system. Further, this bill would leave children and providers unsafe and at risk of exposure to dangerous or unhealthy conditions by giving states discretion to rollback key health and safety provisions. This would only undermine and destabilize the child care industry.

We are grateful to the House’s recent passage of the Child Care is Essential Act, which would provide $50 billion in immediate relief to stabilize the child care sector. As additional negotiations between Congress and the White House continue, we urge you to follow the House’s recent lead and provide at least $50 billion in relief for the child care sector in the next COVID-19 relief package. This funding level is essential: it is the only way to save hundreds of thousands of child care jobs and businesses, give families the support they need to go to work or school, ensure businesses have a stable and available workforce, and ensure that we will have a child care system left to return to after the pandemic is over.