Lee Leads Legislation to Expand Child Care and Job Opportunities for Military Families
WASHINGTON– Today, Congresswoman Susie Lee (D-NV) and Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE) introduced the More Child Care and Jobs for Military Families Act to expand child care access and spouse employment opportunities for military families in Nevada and beyond. This bipartisan legislation is a critical step towards increasing quality of life for our servicemembers and strengthening military retention and recruitment.
One of the single most common complaints from military bases around the country is the lack of access to affordable, high-quality child care. Currently, the average wait time for child development centers across the military is around 130 days, which only compounds the serious demands military life already places on families through odd hours and stressful day-to-day tasks. Additionally, many of the over 680,000 active-duty spouses struggle to find reliable employment opportunities given the unique challenges of moving from base to base for military service. While military spouses have experience in a wide range of fields, far too many report being held back from building careers in child care due to unhelpful red tape and certification requirements that range widely base to base. The combination of these shortcomings significantly decreases quality of life assurances for military families, which in turn makes it more difficult to retain servicemembers long-term.
The bipartisan More Child Care and Jobs for Military Families Act provides a commonsense path forward for addressing existing limitations and improving the possibilities available to our servicemembers, their spouses, and their children. It directs the Department of Defense to study trends in at-home child care programs and spouse employment across military installations, examining the complications stemming from variations in certification and licensing requirements across different bases and states. Upon completing this report, the Department would then issue an assessment of how best to streamline these requirements and eliminate unnecessary red tape with an eye to expanding quality child care options, while increasing spouse employment opportunities.
“The most valuable assets in our nation’s military are the men and women who answer the call to serve and we should treat them and their families as such. Yet, each and every day these men and women struggle to find quality child care for their children,” said Congresswoman Lee. “Servicemembers at Creech and Nellis know this struggle well, where the cost for child care exceeds the cost of college tuition — and that’s if they can find any. My legislation will take an important step to expand child care options and affordability for our military families. At-home child care can be an important and affordable option, especially for our service members who operate in a 24/7 environment. With my bill, we will be able to streamline the licensure process for at-home child care operators. Not only will this provide essential child care for families, but also open up additional employment options for spouses. I’m honored to lead this bipartisan bill with Congressman Bacon to break down barriers to quality child care for military families in southern Nevada and beyond.”
“The lack of childcare availability is a major quality of life issue,” said Congressman Bacon. “We have heard from military families from Nebraska and across the country that the waitlist for childcare is years long, placing a significant burden on these families. Our service members are already making tremendous sacrifices for our country, it is our obligation to meet their basic needs.”
The legislation was also included in the House-passed FY24 National Defense Authorization Act as a bipartisan amendment led by Congresswoman Lee. Congressmen James Moylan (R-Guam), Don Davis (D-NC), and Rick Larsen (D-WA) have joined Reps. Lee and Bacon in cosponsoring this bill.
You can read more about the More Child Care and Jobs for Military Families Act here.
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