Sen. Patty Murray was inspired to enter politics after a state lawmaker derided her efforts to fight funding cuts to early education programs as “just a mom in tennis shoes.” , she proudly adopted this statement as her campaign slogan.
That's why, more than 40 years later, Murray, now chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has navigated grueling negotiations over federal funding and won major victories for children and their families. It wasn't all that surprising that I got it. The $1.2 trillion spending bill that Congress approved last week included an additional $1 billion in single-year funding for child care and early education programs.
Murray achieved this feat despite significant political headwinds. Congressional negotiators had to stick to the debt and spending deal that President Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached last year. Their agreement effectively froze all spending except for the military and led to deep cuts in social programs.
But Murray, along with House Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, urged Republicans to increase child care subsidy spending for low-income families by 9% and spend $275 million for Head Start. He urged them to accept the increase. , a federal program for low-income preschool children.
“This is something that I have always focused on,” Murray said in an interview in a Capitol suite reserved for budget committee leaders. “But when I took over as chairman of the Appropriations Committee and looked at the wide range of bills I was responsible for writing, I thought, 'This is where we can finally make a real difference.'”
It comes at a time when the childcare system is under extreme strain. A huge one-time infusion of federal funding that Murray and DeLauro helped secure to support child care programs during the coronavirus pandemic is set to expire, pushing an already fragile system to the brink.
Previous leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful positions in Congress, have historically used their pens to steer funds toward their own priorities, usually in their own interests. I've been doing it. For Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, it was the port of Mobile and Redstone Arsenal, the U.S. military base in Huntsville that is home to the FBI and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Sens. Ted Stevens of Alaska and Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii took pride in raising federal funds for underserved states.
For Murray, the first woman to lead the committee, it's childcare, an issue that historically has had few powerful constituencies on Capitol Hill. This is a continuation of her decades-long commitment to ensuring families have access to affordable child care.
When the pandemic hit, DeLauro and Murray, then the Health and Labor Appropriations Subcommittee Chair, secured an additional $15 billion for child care programs and $24 billion in child care subsidies in the 2021 stimulus package. . The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that this measure has kept more than 220,000 child care providers nationwide and up to 10 million children in care during the pandemic.
Funding for child care and Head Start has increased by more than 250 percent since 2015, when Mr. Murray became the top Democrat on the Labor and Health Appropriations Committee and Mr. DeLauro led the House Appropriations subcommittee. 6.3 billion dollars.
Murray recalled in an interview that when he won re-election in 2022 and received a phone call from Biden to congratulate him, his reaction was, “Now I have to raise a family.''
In a recent spending bill, Democrats won $8.75 billion into the Child Care and Development Block Grant, the nation's main child care program for low-income families.
Separately, Murray secured $277 million in this year's military construction funding bill to establish six new child development centers at facilities to provide military families with more child care options. It added $60 million more than the Biden administration requested for the design of additional child development centers. .
To comply with strict spending limits set out in the debt agreement, many other programs absorbed spending cuts, particularly the State Department and foreign aid programs that have long been the target of Republican criticism. This has made it all the more important for Democratic leaders to claim big wins on social policy issues that matter to their core supporters. That could help encourage rank-and-file members to vote and push the bill over the finish line. Significant Republican opposition.
House Republicans were unable to pass a spending bill for health care programs, including education and child care, giving Democrats more leverage in negotiations. The bill collapsed under intense political pressure from DeLauro and other Democrats, as politically weak Republicans balked at the party's deep spending cuts and anti-abortion measures.
“Within our bill, you have to make decisions. Some here, some there,” Murray said of the negotiations. But when it came to childcare, he said, “I just said, 'Don't touch this.'”
Kristin Lowe Finkbeiner, executive director of Moms Rising, a national nonprofit based in Washington state, said the increased funding is “sorely needed” to stabilize the child care system in crisis. He said more funding would be needed to do so.
“This $1 billion will lead to expanded child care for mothers with families, allowing them to fully participate in the workforce and greatly benefit our communities and economy.” Lowe Fink Ms. Byner said. “It also increases access to stable, affordable, and high-quality child care, reducing the overall cost burden faced by families.”
Murray “never hesitated to embrace being a mother as a fundamental part of her resume. That's amazing. She stepped into an area where there are huge motherhood barriers and was successful. . And her success has inspired all the other mothers.”
Congressional leaders are expected to soon begin negotiating a spending bill to be introduced this fall to fund the government next year. For Murray, the increased childcare funding secured this month is just the beginning.
“For me, this comes from my gut. I fundamentally believe this is an issue that we have to deal with,” Murray said. “I hope that with this spending bill, our country will globally accept that if we all want to become a better country, we must focus on child care.”