Dear Friend,

Sometimes when I feel totally overwhelmed by my three young kids, being a working mom and my neverending pile of unfolded laundry, I can’t help but relate to that doctored image of a dumpster fire floating down the street. Yes this one:

But then I see what Republican leaders in Congress have been up to and realize that my dumpster fire is nothing compared to theirs. Instead of actually doing their jobs and supporting our families on child care, many of the Republican leaders (who control the U.S. House, BTW) have been infighting, playing politics with our kids, putting up barriers to passing child care assistance, and generally ignoring the fact that our child care system is in an active crisis. It’s far time that every single one of our elected officials understand that their votes on child care will impact OUR votes for THEM. 

*CLICK HERE to register to vote or to double check that your voter registration up to date (and your voter information is correct)! 

Why should you check your registration now? Because 2024 is only two weeks away, and the new year will not only bring us a presidential election, but also all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be up for election.

Voting is such a crucial piece when it comes to activating around child care. The advocacy we do is so contingent upon who we actually have in office representing us and making the decisions that impact our lives and the well being of our communities and economy. When we come together as a community and vote in elected leaders who care about the issues we care about, we move the needle forward. We’ve seen that with historic amounts of child care legislation introduced in the last few years. WE DID THAT.  

Now, we need even more elected leaders who really hear our stories and understand the struggle families have been facing for decades, and actually do something about it together. 

We need to MOM the VOTE so that child care remains a priority in this HUGE upcoming election! Click now to check your voter registration status or to register to vote!

Now is our time to double down on organizing our voices and our votes. Why?  Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress have so far shown a complete disregard toward the difficulties families and businesses are facing by allowing critical child care stabilization funds to expire last September, knowing full well that 3.2 million children could lose their access to child care, childcare centers will close, childcare professionals will lose their jobs, and parents will be pushed out of much-needed jobs as a result. These critical funds saved an already broken child care industry from total collapse during pandemic times and protected businesses from losing valued employees – and letting them run out has already had a negative impact. Just last month 29% of families reported an increase in their child care tuition, 28% of child care providers experienced wage cuts or were unable to sustain salary increases, and 24% of providers reported that they are now serving fewer children. [1] 

This is all infuriating, but YOU have not been taking these child care cuts lying down. 

You’ve been speaking up and taking action, and it’s already made a real difference. Just a few weeks ago President Biden announced a request for $16 billion in emergency supplemental funding for child care that is being pushed to Congress, and recently, Democratic U.S. Senators and other leaders spoke from the Senate floor on the ongoing child care crisis, urging their fellow members of Congress to pass $16 BILLION per year in emergency child care dollars to address the ongoing child care cliff.

Let’s get things moving!  Mom the Vote by checking your voter registration status now and help put out this dumpster fire! Too many electeds are okay with child care going down in flames. Use your vote to say enough is enough, we need child care support!

***After you take action, please share this link on social media, as well as with friends and family.  The more of us who take action and who share, the faster we’ll make the changes we seek.***

Moms across this country are lifting democracy—we are such a powerful force! A force that pushed child care, against so many odds, to be a national priority. Now let’s continue the MOMentum by ensuring our voices and the voices of families, children and providers are heard loud and clear! No more hot messes, no more dumpster fires, our electeds need to do better, and know that our members will hold them accountable at the ballot box.

-Nadia, Nina, Lauren, Hanna, Kristin, Donna and the entire MomsRising/MamásConPoder team

[1] https://action.momsrising.org/go/76500?t=7&akid=19168%2E2840598%2Ekj8M_6

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