Rep. Rosa DeLauro on Children’s Week Chat: “Every week is Children’s Week.”

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), year after year a leading Champion for Children, lays out a powerful path to cutting child poverty and saving America’s child care in this conversation with First Focus on Children President Bruce Lesley.

DeLauro’s American Family Act (H.R. 1560), introduced with Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), would tackle child poverty by increasing and expanding the Child Tax Credit and having it distributed monthly, changes that would effectively transform it into a child allowance. The American Family Act would cut child poverty by 42%, DeLauro says, and would reduce it by half among African-American children, who suffer disproportionately.

“This is how you get to the deepest economic and racial inequities in our society today,” she says. 

DeLauro is also leading a push to save the country’s child care industry, which could permanently lose more than 4 million slots. Her Child Care is Essential Act (H.R. 7027) — introduced alongside Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) — would create a $50 billion emergency fund for the industry.

DeLauro, who chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS also stresses the need to treat children fairly in the federal budget.

“Every week is Children’s Week,” she says. “Every week. It’s no slogan. It’s about our future.”