\n<\/p>\n
Congressional Democrats are introducing a bill that would provide childcare relief to federal workers affected by the shutdown of the federal government, as it drags on through a second week.<\/p>\n
Parents would be reimbursed for fees paid to childcare facilities during the shutdown under plans initiated by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.<\/p>\n
Any federal employee who has been furloughed, or remains working through the shutdown without pay, would be entitled to support under the Federal Worker Childcare Protection Act of 2025.<\/p>\n
The bill authorizes the General Services Administration to receive official documentation for childcare expenses from federal workers to apply for reimbursement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you talk to federal workers right now, a lot of them are exhausted. They\u2019re proud of what they do, but they\u2019re tired of being treated like their lives are expendable,\u201d Omar said in a statement on the bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis administration has made it clear it\u2019s not interested in standing up for workers \u2013 but I am,\u201d she added. \u201cAs a working parent, I know the importance of having reliable childcare. This bill is a small but necessary way to show that their work and their families matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 100 childcare centers previously operated in GSA-managed federal spaces, providing childcare for thousands of children daily, but the so-called \u201cdepartment of government efficiency\u201d eliminated the GSA office that managed these facilities earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Co-sponsors of the bill include the congressional Democratic representatives Pramila Jayapal, Summer Lee, Gregory Meeks, Jerry Nadler, and Rashida Tlaib.<\/p>\n
A report from the Economic Policy Institute in March noted that childcare is more expensive than rent in 17 states and Washington DC\u201d, with the average cost of childcare for an infant in Washington DC at $2,363 per month, the highest average cost in the US.<\/p>\n
It comes as Donald Trump\u2019s administration attempts to pin blame on Democrats for the shutdown, repeating false claims about funding healthcare for undocumented people. \u201cDemocrats should simply stop putting illegal aliens before the American people and reopen the government,\u201d said Abigail Jackson, spokesperson for the White House in an email.<\/p>\n
But Democrats insist this is unfair. \u201cThe House hasn\u2019t held a vote now for eighteen days,\u201d Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democrat leader, wrote on social media on Tuesday. Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, \u201cis CAUSING\u2014and NOT INTERESTED IN ENDING\u2014the shutdown\u201d, Schumer claimed.<\/p>\n
Omar\u2019s bill is the latest proposed by Democrats to support federal workers affected by the government shutdown. Another bill, introduced last week, would provide backpay for workers at federal contractors affected by the shutdown.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n
Sign up to This Week in Trumpland<\/span><\/p>\n A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Democrats have also criticized the Trump administration after reports they are threatening to withhold pay for furloughed federal employees despite existing legislation and previous guidance from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n Omar introduced a similar bill in 2019 in response to the most recent government shutdown. It was her first bill introduction as a member of Congress.<\/p>\n Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the US, wrote a letter to the US president on Tuesday demanding an end to the government shutdown. \u201cYour administration seems to be adding even more pain onto working people by choice over the course of this shutdown,\u201d she wrote, citing actions such as threatening firings, cancelling infrastructure grants, and threats to withhold backpay from furloughed workers.<\/p>\n \u201cOur livelihoods should not be used as pawns or bargaining chips, whether it is threatening one set of workers after another, canceling construction projects, or jacking up electricity prices on top of higher health insurance premiums,\u201d Shuler added. \u201cWe implore you to meet with the leaders of the House and Senate to find a solution that funds the government, fixes the healthcare crisis, and puts working people first.\u201d<\/p>\n Quick Guide<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Show<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.<\/p>\n If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/strong><\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS\/Android) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019. <\/p>\n SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post<\/strong><\/p>\n If you can safely use the Tor network without being observed or monitored, you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform.<\/p>\n Finally, our guide at theguardian.com\/tips\u00a0lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.\u00a0<\/p>\n Illustration: Guardian Design \/ Rich Cousins<\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Congressional Democrats are introducing a bill that would provide childcare relief to federal workers affected by the shutdown of the federal government, as it drags on through a second week. Parents would be reimbursed for fees paid to childcare facilities during the shutdown under plans initiated by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Any federal employee who has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[142,3631,305,4898,581,319,16127,11209,1438],"class_list":{"0":"post-26926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-bill","9":"tag-childcare","10":"tag-costs","11":"tag-cover","12":"tag-democrats","13":"tag-federal","14":"tag-introduce","15":"tag-shutdown","16":"tag-workers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Contact us about this story<\/h4>\n