WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Republican Senator Joni Ernst (Iowa), and bipartisan group of Senators wrote Senate leaders calling for increased coronavirus assistance for child care providers in the future coronavirus response legislation.
“Arizona child care centers need support during this public health crisis to keep serving our essential workers now, and to have the certainty to stay open when our economies safely, smartly re-open,” said Sinema.
Read Sinema’s full letter HERE.
Under the CARES Act, Congress provided relief to child care providers primarily through the Paycheck Protection Program and a boost to the Child Care and Development Block Grant. Despite these efforts, many child care providers are either closed due to state business mandates or operating on thin budgets. Child care centers that have remained open have been critical to parents that are essential workers, but are struggling to keep their doors open. Additional funding will help these centers maintain operations and ensure providers can take extra precautions to clean facilities and secure personal protective equipment if necessary.
Sinema helped secure a number of priorities in the sweeping coronavirus-response CARES Act, including a $150 billion relief for state, local, and Tribal governments, $55 billion more in investments in hospitals and health care workers, and an increase in unemployment benefits. Sinema also recently wrote an op-ed outlining Arizona needs she is working to include in the next coronavirus-response legislation.
Sinema has also added a resources page to her website, www.sinema.senate.gov/corona, for Arizonans looking for the latest information on coronavirus.
