Whereas today’s working parents depend on high-quality child care so they can work and support their families, and approximately 12.5 million children under 5 are in a regular child care arrangement; Whereas the United States economy loses $57,000,000,000,000 annually in lost earnings, lost productivity, and lost revenue due to child care challenges; Whereas child care is difficult to find for millions of families, particularly for the approximately 58 percent of low-income children younger than 6 years old whose parents work non-standard hours, when only 8 percent of child care centers provide evening or weekend care; Whereas in the last 10 years the cost of child care has increased by 25 percent; Whereas the Department of Health and Human Services recommends that no more than 7 percent of household income go toward child care payments; however, middle-income families spend as much as 14 percent on child care and low-income families spend approximately 35 percent of their income on child care; Whereas the average annual cost of center-based child care for an infant in 30 States and Washington, DC, is higher than the average in-state tuition and fees at a public four-year institution; Whereas families of color face income gaps that make quality child care even less affordable resulting in Black, Indigenous, and other children of color less likely to attend licensed care, which tends to be higher quality than non-licensed care; Whereas high-quality child care and early education, especially for disadvantaged children, helps children thrive in school and beyond by decreasing special education placement and reducing grade retention, by decreasing child abuse and neglect and juvenile arrests, by increasing high school graduation and college attendance, and by increasing employment