Supporting the goals and ideas of a National Child Care Worthy Wage Day.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 112) supporting the goals and ideas of a National Child Care Worthy Wage Day.

Madam Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may insert material relevant to H. Con. Res. 112 into the Record.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

(Mrs. McCARTHY of New York asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Madam Speaker, on May 1 of each year, child care providers and other early childhood professionals nationwide conduct awareness and education efforts highlighting the importance of good early childhood education for our Nation's young children.

In support of these actions, I have introduced H. Con. Res. 112, a bipartisan resolution in support of National Child Care Worthy Wage Day. This resolution is an effort to support these initiatives and to help develop greater public awareness in this area. Every day, approximately 13 million children are cared for outside the home so that their parents can work, including some who work in our congressional offices.

The committed individuals who nurture and teach these young children are undervalued, despite their important work. We know that children begin to learn at birth, and that the quality of care they receive will affect their language, development, math skills, behavior and general readiness for school. However, the inadequate level of wages for child care staff, roughly $18,000 a year, has led to difficulties in attracting and retaining high quality early childhood caretakers and educators.

In addition to low wages, less than one-third of child care workers have health insurance, and even fewer have pensions. As a result, the turnover rate for child care providers is 30 percent a year. This high turnover rate interrupts consistent and stable relations that children need to have with their caregivers.

Please join me in recognizing the important work of child care providers and support the efforts to provide them with a worthy wage. The Nation's child care workforce and the families that depend on them deserve our support.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.

I want to thank the ranking member, Mr. Platts from Pennsylvania. Working with him on the committee has certainly been a joy. We do work very well together.

As the gentleman has said, passing H. Con. Res. 112 is extremely important. I stand by the words that my colleague has spoken. But I think that this Nation really has to start looking at how we prepare, certainly for the few future and for the global economy that we are all facing. Certainly having high-qualified teachers, day care workers to make sure that our children are getting the best education they possibly can at the earliest age possible. We look at the other countries and see what they are doing. I have to say that many times we are shortchanging our children.

Madam Speaker, I am asking that our Members vote for H. Con. Res. 112.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 112, supporting the goals and ideas of a National Child Care Worthy Wage Day. I would like to thank my colleague from New York (Mrs. McCarthy) for her leadership on this issue and for introducing the resolution we are considering here today.

Child care is an integral part of the daily routine of millions of families with young children. Working parents depend on child care so they can earn the income needed to support their families, as well as ensure that their children are well cared for in safe environments while they are working. As a result, approximately 63 percent of children under 5 years of age are in some type of regular child care environment each week.

High-quality child care, care that provides a stable, safe, stimulating environment, helps children enter school prepared to learn. Research has repeatedly shown that children who receive high-quality child care demonstrate greater mathematical ability, greater attention and thinking skills and fewer behavioral problems than children who receive low-quality care.

Quality care is directly linked to the quality of the educators, helping children to grow, learn and gain new skills is rewarding. However, it's very physically and emotionally taxing, as educators work long days, must be constantly alert, deal effectively with disruptive children, anticipate and prevent trouble, and provide firm but fair discipline. As a result, many child care workers leave the profession. The turnover rate in this industry is roughly 30 percent per year.

Compensation and additional training are important variables to ensure a high quality child care environment for our children. We need to attract and retain educators who have the caring, consistent relationships that are critical to children's development. I am pleased to commend our Nation's child care providers for their dedicated service to our Nation's children and their families.

I think it's important that we are taking time to recognize the critically important work of child care providers and the importance of doing better when it comes to their pay and benefits.

As a parent myself, my children, now second grade, fourth graders, went through a preschool program that was exceptional, it was certified. In that facility, we had both the preschool program and a very high-quality child care center as well. We saw the benefits to our children personally of that professional setting. An important part of being able to retain professional workers, staff, in those settings, is the pay and benefits.

When we look at the quality of these facilities, if we don't reduce that turnover rate, that 30 percent turnover rate, we will continue to be challenged to get somebody new in and get them up to speed. That impacts the quality of the care provided.

So I, again, commend the sponsor of the resolution for helping to raise national recognition and the importance of this issue, and urge a ``yes'' vote.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on Tuesday, May 1, 2007, I was unable to be present for votes. Had I been present: For rollcall No. 270--H. Res. 334, Supporting the Goals and Ideals of National Community College Month, I would have voted ``yea''; for rollcall No. 271--H. Con. Res. 112, Supporting the Goals and Ideals of a National Child Care Worthy Wage Day, I would have voted ``no''; and for rollcall No. 239--H. Res. 272, to commend the University of Florida Gators for their historic win in the 2007 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of H. Con. Res. 112 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I am required to be absent from votes this day, May 1, 2007, for a pressing engagement in my District. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on the following bills: H. Res. 334, H. Con. Res. 112, and H. Res. 298.