Baldwin Statement on Emergency Funding to Address Child Care Crisis, Curb Opioid and Fentanyl Epidemic

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, released the following statement in response to the President’s emergency funding request that includes resources to address the child care crisis and the opioid epidemic:

“When I travel the state, I hear time and again from families who want to ensure their kids get a strong start, their loved ones are safe and sound, and they can live a stable middle-class lifestyle. And I am committed to delivering the results to help them do that.

“I’ve heard from countless families that are struggling to find affordable child care, with parents paying thousands every month or dropping out of the workforce to care for their kids. I’ve heard from Wisconsin businesses who cannot find workers or have lost good employees who cannot afford child care, while hardworking child care providers struggle to stay afloat and pay their workers fairly without gouging parents. We must meet the moment and invest in child care to give our kids the strong start they deserve, lower costs for working families, and grow our economy.

“I also hear from too many Wisconsin families who have lost a loved one too soon to opioid and fentanyl overdoses and poisonings. We need to do everything we can, from stopping these drugs from coming across the border, to ensuring Wisconsinites have access to prevention, treatment, and overdose reversal drugs. I’m committed to ensuring Wisconsin has the resources we need to help those suffering, keep these deadly drugs out of our communities, and prevent needless heartache.

“The emergency funding package that the President announced today will help us address these crises head on, lowering costs for working families, growing our economy, and saving lives. Now, Congress must act to deliver for the American people.”

The funding to address the child care crisis and fentanyl and opioid epidemics comes as part of an emergency funding request that also includes critical resources to help communities impacted by natural disasters, strengthen our national security, connect more Americans to affordable internet, and reduce energy costs for low income Americans. The emergency request includes:

Addressing the Child Care Crisis – $16 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for an additional year of child care stabilization funding to help keep child care providers afloat, mitigating the likelihood that providers will close or raise costs for families.

Countering Fentanyl – In addition to critical resources to crack down on the illicit flow of fentanyl that were included in a package President Biden announced last week, the emergency funding request invests in opioid use disorder treatment, evidence-based harm reduction services, overdose prevention measures like naloxone, and recovery support services. The proposed funding includes:

• $1.55 billion for HHS Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration State Opioid Response (SOR) grants to provide treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support services in all States and territories. Since 2018, the SOR grant program has provided treatment services to over 1.2 million people.
• $1.2 billion, included in a package announced last week, to crack down on the trafficking of dangerous and lethal illicit drugs like fentanyl, including hiring an additional 1,300 border agents and deploying new cutting-edge detection equipment to disrupt the flow of fentanyl into the country.

An online version of this release is available here.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.