National Women's Political Caucus day care alert, July 30,1971, page 1

          AUG 11 1971

[handwritten] File under daycare, hold for investigation later

July 30, 1971

NATIONAL WOMEN'S POLITICAL CAUCUS DAY CARE ALERT

As you know, the organizing conference of the NWPC came out
strongly for the development in this country of a comprehensive
system of child care services, universally available and free of
charge to all users . As members of the NWPC national policy council
we are writing to inform you of several developments in Congress
which will have a dramatic effect upon the kind of child care
system which is finally adopted.

We expect that the Senate child care bill, S. 2007, will be
reported out the week of August 2 for consideration on the Senate
floor. We anticipate that the full House Education and Labor com-
mittee will mark up the House day care bill, H.R. 6748, the week
of August 2 during which time additional amendments will be offered
and the bill's language will be put in final form for consideration
by the full House.

Enclosed are letters we have sent to Senator Mondale, Chairman
of the subcommittee which worked on the day care legislation, and
Senator Javits who is the ranking Republican on the committee.

In our letters to the Senators, you will see that we have
opposed the introduction of any amendment which will limit prime
sponsorship to localities with a population of 100,000 or more,
or any amendment  which will change the current allocation formula
in such a way that only poverty families would be eligible for
day care service.

We have also urged the Senators to introduce an amendment to
S. 2007 to insure that only non-profit organizations will be eligi-
ble for federal day care monies and to oppose any language which
seeks to limit parent participation in programs. In addition, we
have asked them to support a higher appropriation figure.

In our letter to Representative Carl Perkins, Chairman of the
House Education and Labor Committee, we urged support for a series
of amendments that will be offered to the House bill, H.R. 6748,
during next week's mark up session. These ammendments (a) insure
that only non-profit organizations will be eligible for day care
monies, (b) provide that any locality regardless of population
would be eligible for prime sponsorship, (c) protect current Head
Start programs so they may not be eliminated by administrative fiat,
(d) strengthen the role of parents in day care programs, (e) guaran-
tee a minimum wage to workers in federally sponsored day care
programs, (f) provide that the Bureau of Labor Statistics Lower
Living Standard Budget shall be the standard of eligibility through-
out the bill, and (g) provide a meaningful appropriation to carry
out the proposed programs. The appropriations proposal we are
supporting would provide for $5 billion in fiscal year 1972; $8
billion in FY 1974, and $10 billion in fiscal year 1975.

OVER