RELEASE: Gottheimer Announces New Legislation to Make Childcare More Affordable for NJ Families

Above: Gottheimer visits Little Learners Childcare Center to announce new legislation to make childcare more affordable for families.

HACKENSACK, NJ — Today, February 4, 2025, U.S. Congressman Gottheimer (NJ-5) joined local leaders at the Little Learners Childcare Center to announce new actions as part of his “Affordability Plan for Jersey.” 

This includes legislation to expand the Child Tax Credit and incentivize entrepreneurs to provide more childcare options for families. Gottheimer also announced his strategy to fight back against the Trump Administration’s proposed cuts to the Department of Education.

Video of Gottheimer’s announcement can be found here.

Skyrocketing Childcare Costs: 

• Since 2019, the average cost of childcare is up 32 percent.
• Childcare in New Jersey is the second most expensive in the country.
  • In Bergen County, on average, childcare costs families more than $17,460 a year — $442 each week. For families with infants, the cost is even higher — as much as $19,500 a year.
• For a minimum wage earner in New Jersey, childcare can cost more than fifty percent of their annual salary.
• New Jersey parents are expected to lose more than $378 million dollars in expected earnings as they are forced to cut work hours or leave the workforce altogether to care for their children.
• New Jersey lost 250 childcare centers during the pandemic from 2020 to 2021 during the pandemic, only worsening the childcare shortage and increasing costs for families.  

Gottheimer’s New Actions to Bring Down the Cost of Childcare:

• First, Gottheimer is sponsoring the American Family Act to expand the Child Tax Credit to $300 per month, or $3,600 per year. This is up from $2,000 per year for children ages 6 to 17.
  • For families with children below the age of 6, that amount will increase to $360 a month or $4,320 a year. 
  • This legislation will provide monthly payments so families don’t have to wait until the end of the year for help. 
  • The bill includes a “baby bonus,” which gives an additional $2,000 to new families, regardless of when their child was born.
• Second, Gottheimer is reintroducing the LITTLE Act, which will more than double the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to $7,500 for one child, and $15,000 for two or more.
  • That’s up from $3,000 and $6,000, respectively. 
  • This refundable credit will also be tied to inflation.
  • The legislation will also create a new tax credit for start-up childcare centers to ensure families have more access to more affordable childcare. 
• Third, ahead of next month’s government funding deadline, Gottheimer is writing a letter to congressional leadership and the House Appropriations Committee stressing the importance of childcare funding and urging them to commit to not cutting any childcare-related funds.
• Finally, Gottheimer will stand alongside countless others across the state and the nation and make it clear that President Trump should not be allowed to shut down the Department of Education — an agency that provides critical support for early childhood development and families across Jersey. 

“Childcare is one of the biggest expenses a family can have — costing up to 50 percent of their monthly budget. That’s half your paycheck on childcare alone, before factoring in the cost of commuting, taxes, and other expenses like rent, food, and diapers. From our nurses and teachers to firefighters — everyone is struggling to make ends meet,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5).“If we invest in our children when they are young, from childcare centers to pre-school, to kindergarten, and on, it will pay long-term dividends for us and our country. We just can’t let far-right extremists deny what our families need. There should be nothing partisan about investing in our childcare and our children’s futures. We must make childcare — and life — for families here in Jersey more affordable.”

Congressman Gottheimer was joined by Senator Gordon Johnson, Commissioner Rafael Marte, Little Learners Child Development Center owner Dawn Cleveland, and Senior Policy Analyst for Advocates for Children in New Jersey Shadaya Bennet.

Below: Gottheimer announcing new legislation to make childcare more affordable for families.

Gottheimer’s remarks as prepared for delivery below: 

Good morning. It’s great to be back here at the Little Learners Child Development Center in Hackensack. In October, I had the pleasure of hosting a discussion here with Dawn about the importance of affordable childcare, and, once again, to see the wonderful care that her and her family provide to scores of children from Northern New Jersey.

We’re here today to announce new legislation as part of my Affordability Agenda for Jersey to help families afford the crushing cost of childcare. New Jersey has the second highest childcare costs in the country – and that’s if you’re lucky enough, given the shortage of childcare centers and caregivers, to find a loving place like this one. Add to that President Trump has proposed his plans to kill the Department of Education and support for early childhood education, and you can see why I’m worried about our kids.

But first, let me talk about the crushing costs of childcare. We all know that childcare centers provide critical assistance to moms and dads who need a safe place to leave their children as they go to work — that’s why so many of these centers continue to be the bedrock of our communities. Childcare is one of the biggest expenses a family can have — costing up to 50 percent of their monthly budget. That’s half your paycheck on childcare alone, before factoring in the cost of commuting, taxes, and other expenses like rent, food, and diapers. From our nurses and teachers to firefighters — everyone is struggling to make ends meet.

Childcare in New Jersey is the second most expensive in the country — here in Bergen, on average, it costs families more than $17,460 a year. That’s $442 each week that is being drained out of our pocketbooks to keep our children safe and cared for. For families with infants, the cost can be even more difficult — as high as $19,500 a year.

Far too often, the high cost of childcare means parents have to choose between going to work or sending their kids to childcare, because, for many, paying for childcare actually costs more than they make on the job. Or, for many families, one of the parents has to set aside their entire paycheck for childcare. It’s easy to see how the cost of childcare can be a pocketbook killer and keep moms and dads from going to work.

Jersey parents are expected to lose more than $378 million dollars in expected earnings because they’re being forced to cut work hours or leave the workforce altogether to care for their children. We also don’t have enough childcare centers and caretakers, which has also driven up costs. From 2020 to 2021, during the pandemic, New Jersey lost more than 250 childcare centers. This created a simple supply and demand problem: the number of children parents are having didn’t drop, but the availability of quality care did. Costs didn’t just stop rising there. Instead, they continued to skyrocket. Since 2019, the average cost of childcare is up 32 percent.

With a tight labor market, it also became harder to find well-trained workers — raising both the expenses for our local childcare centers to operate and the costs these small businesses have been forced to charge our families just to stay open.

Given how important childcare is for our families, our economy, and, most importantly, for our children and their futures, we must take steps to solve this problem and make quality childcare more affordable.

Today, as a part of my “Affordability Agenda for Jersey,” I’m announcing new actions to make quality childcare more affordable, more available, and help put dollars back into the pockets of hardworking Jersey families.

First, we must immediately expand the Child Tax Credit. From quality childcare to helping pay for diapers, clothing, and baby food, the Child Tax Credit has helped millions of parents go to work and afford the overwhelming costs of raising a child in Jersey. 

I will be sponsoring new legislation, the American Family Act, to expand the Child Tax Credit to $300 per month. That’s $3,600 per year back in your pocket, up from $2,000 per year for children ages 6 to 17. If you have a child below the age of 6, that amount will increase to $360 a month, or $4,320 a year. This legislation will also make these payments available every month, so families don’t have to wait until the end of the year for help. Childcare and diaper bills come every week. Also, our legislation includes a “baby bonus,” which gives an additional $2,000 to new families who just had a child, regardless of when their child was born.

Through the American Rescue Plan, we successfully fought to expand the Child Tax Credit during the pandemic. We saw just how much this helped make life more affordable for families, lifting more than four million children out of poverty and helping childcare providers keep their doors open. Then the far-right extremists rolled it back, raising costs for Jersey families, and doubling the child poverty rate in our country. We must put the expanded Child Tax Credit back in place, and this legislation will do just that.

Second, I am reintroducing the Lowering Infant and Toddler Tuition for Learning and Education Act — or LITTLE Act for short. The LITTLE Act will create the first tax credit for start-up childcare centers to help lower the barrier of entry for entrepreneurs to open a new childcare center. This will help lower prices and ensure hardworking Jersey families have more access to affordable childcare for their children.

This legislation was inspired and informed by the important discussions I actually had here back in April, and from the countless conversations I’ve had with caregivers and Jersey families about their struggles to provide their children with the care they deserve.

And, on top of the Child Tax Credit, given the fast-growing costs of childcare, the LITTLE Act goes a step further, and doubles the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to $7,500 for one child, and $15,000 for two or more — which will cover a significant portion of childcare costs in New Jersey. Those are dollars that can only be used for childcare costs, and it’s also a refundable tax credit.   

Third, ahead of the government funding deadline next month, I’m writing a letter to congressional leadership and the leadership of the House Appropriations Committee stressing the importance of childcare funding, and urging them to commit to not cutting a single dime of any childcare-related funding. 

As extremists in the Administration and Congress push to roll back critical investments that support our families, we need to gear up to fight for every dollar and ensure no one can just steal away our financial future. As I’ve done for years, from fighting for more investments in Head Start to restoring the full SALT deduction and killing the Congestion Tax, I will continue to work around the clock to make Jersey an even better place to live, work, and raise our families.

Finally, I will be joining together with countless others across our state and country, and making it very clear that President Trump cannot go after our children, their education, and futures and shut down the Department of Education. Aside from their critical work in grade school, the Department has an enormous impact on early childhood education, including programs that help centers like this one teach our kids. 

We know that what our children learn, especially during those first five formative years, means everything to their long-term growth and success. We will fight against the President if he attempts to, in a dictatorial fashion, shut down or gut the Department of Education and put our children’s future at risk.

The President spent months talking about taking action to lower costs for families – and, so far, it’s been one retribution after another. We need to take on costs and taxes, not gutting programs that help children and families. It should be about groceries, not Greenland.

If we invest in our children when they are young, from childcare centers to pre-school, to kindergarten, and on, it will pay long-term dividends for us and our country. We just can’t let far-right extremists deny what our families need. There should be nothing partisan about investing in our childcare and our children’s futures. We must make childcare — and life — for families here in Jersey more affordable.

Here in the greatest country in the world, I know that if we work together, and put our children first, our best days will always be ahead of us. Thank you. God bless you, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

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