Pelosi calls for investments in child care, early education

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday voiced support for increased federal funding of early child care and education while touring schools in Massachusetts.

Joined on the trip by several congresswomen from the state, Pelosi told reporters that her primary motivation for serving in government has been improving life for younger generations, according to The Associated Press.

{mosads}“My ‘why’ has always been the 1 in 5 children in the United States who live in poverty,” she said, according to the news service. “Everything that we do has to be about the children and their future.”

The Speaker made the remarks after touring the Eliot-Pearson Children’s School at Tufts University and reportedly emphasized that education funding is a long-term economic booster.

Pelosi said she stressed the need to fund programs aimed at helping children with disabilities when she met this week with President Trump and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) to discuss infrastructure, the AP reported.

Pelosi was joined on the trip by Democratic congresswomen including Reps. Katherine Clark and Ayanna Pressley, two founding members of the Black Maternal Health Caucus, a congressional working group focused on efforts to reduce the racial disparity in death rates from pregnancy-related complications.

In 2017, as part of the then-minority Democrats’ “Better Deal” agenda, Pelosi co-sponsored a bill that would have ensured that low-income families pay no more than 7 percent of their income on child care expenses.

The bill would have also supported universal preschool access for 3- and 4-year-olds, and improved training and pay for child care workers.