HR0497 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0497 LRB099 12113 KTG 34804 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, In response to fast-growing defense industries during World War II, Congress passed the Defense Housing and Communities Facilities and Services Act of October 1940, 54 Stat. 1125 (commonly known as the Lanham Act), to fund various national defense public works projects; and

WHEREAS, One of the public works projects funded under the Lanham Act concerned the construction and maintenance of child care facilities nationwide in communities that lacked sufficient child care services to meet the growing demand for women to enter the workforce and contribute to the nation's war production effort; and

WHEREAS, The child care program implemented under the Lanham Act operated from 1943 to 1946 and provided funding not only for the construction of child care facilities, but also to help cover the costs associated with teacher training activities, teacher salaries, and meal services provided at child care facilities; and

WHEREAS, Although the child care program implemented under the Lanham Act was viewed as a temporary practical solution to the economic and social demands placed on families, specifically mothers with children, during World War II, many child care advocates consider the Lanham Act a turning point in this country's long-standing policy on child care because it created the first, and only, federally subsidized child care program for children regardless of family income; and

WHEREAS, Many child care advocates have studied the social and economic implications of the child care policy established under the Lanham Act and have argued that it increased maternal employment as well as children's educational attainment, labor force participation, and earnings as adults; and

WHEREAS, In light of these positive outcomes, child care advocates have called for a return to the child care policy established in the Lanham Act and for a permanent commitment by the federal government to make affordable and high-quality child care services accessible for all working families; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we respectfully urge Congress to pass legislation in support of universal child care services for working families and to provide sufficient and sustainable funding for a permanent child care program similar to the federally administered program created and implemented under the Lanham Act of 1940; and be it further

RESOLVED, That after adoption, suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the Speaker and Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate, and the members of the Illinois congressional delegation.