WASHINGTON, D.C.: Today, Tuesday, February 12, 2026, child care providers, parents, and advocates from across the country flooded the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing room to make their voices heard during a Republican-led hearing on child care. 

“It was important for members of the Committee to see our faces and hear our voices today. They need to understand that freezing funds, laying off staff at the Administration of Children and Families, and sending vigilante journalists and ICE agents to needlessly harass providers is causing real harm to real people,” said Andrea Paluso, Co-Director of the Child Care for Every Family Network. “And we need them to understand that the real crisis facing child care is chronic underfunding and systemic instability. Rather than manufacturing scandals and funding crises, lawmakers should address the actual problem: ensuring permanent, sufficient funding for child care.”

Members of the Committee highlighted concerns about the timing and focus of the child care hearing:

“This is the first time that the HELP Committee has had a child care hearing in 988 days. May 31 2023, almost 1,000 days. And so when I heard we were having a child care hearing, I thought it was going to be ‘let’s deal with the crisis of the lack of affordable child care’…. but, the hearing that we’re having after 988 days is about fraud. And, I’m kind of struck by that,” said Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), member of the committee. 

“No one wants our child care system to work more than me, a former preschool teacher,” said Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), member of the committee. “We do not have enough providers. They’re not paid a living wage. They’re barely keeping their doors open. And parents can barely find, let alone afford, child care. We have to solve that and I’d love to have a hearing about that specific framework.”

Notably, the witness invited by the Committee’s leadership emphasized that the administration’s current actions on child care are harming the sector: “Rate freezes and waitlists, which are in place in many states, severely harm working parents and their children […] I believe child care fraud is extremely rare—the vast majority of providers make personal and economic sacrifices because they are committed to serving children and families—and the existence of bad actors should not obscure the fundamental reality that Head Start and CCDBG need greater investment,” said Henry Wilde of Accelero Early Learning.

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The Child Care for Every Family Network is the national movement and campaign to transform child care, representing 2,000+ child care providers and early educators, impacted families, state and national organizations, and organizers across the country. Learn more: childcareforeveryfamily.org.