Elfreth Speaks Out on the Rising Cost of Child Care For American Families
WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth (MD-03) spoke on the House floor during a Special Order Hour organized by freshman Democrats on the ongoing affordability crisis. She spent her remarks focusing on the staggering cost of child care and how the state of Maryland is working to address this issue for working families.
"It is more expensive to send an infant to daycare than it is to send an 18-year-old to the University of Maryland. But I come to this floor with good news. I'm proud to share that in our state, education and nonprofit leaders are working to find innovative solutions to help families afford child care through scholarships and tax credits, but also – and this is crucial – to grow the supply of child care providers and create critically needed seats," said Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth. "The Growing Opportunities for Family Child Care Program has opened nearly 300 day cares, or 2,000 child care slots in just three years by providing training, coaching, and resources to individuals, who happen to be almost entirely women, in opening and operating family child care businesses. Now this is a win, win, win. We create more jobs in child care. We allow more parents to enter the workforce. And, we lower the cost of care through increased supply."
The Growing Opportunities for Family Child Care program (GOFCC) is an innovative program kickstarted in Montgomery County, Maryland, that provides free, targeted training, coaching, and resources to those in the process of opening a family child care business. The program helps prospective child care providers navigate the licensing process while simultaneously supporting them through specialized training to establish strong business foundations and ensure high-quality programming. Over the past three years, the program has mitigated a huge loss in Maryland child care providers post-pandemic. In Baltimore alone, the program supported 61 new family child care programs – helping to fill major gaps in child care.
In 2025, Elfreth hosted a Child Care Roundtable, which convened local, state, and federal experts in early childhood development and child care to discuss key issues, including the rising cost of care, return to work, and changes at the Department of Education.
CLICK HERE or the image below to view Elfreth's full remarks:
Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth
Remarks as Delivered
Floor Speech on Rising Cost of Child Care
February 3rd, 2026
Thank you so much. Mr. Speaker, we are taking time up on the floor today, because from coast to coast, I guarantee that we are all hearing the same message from our constituents: the cost of living is just too high.
I feel it too, as the daughter of a single mom who made everything work because of access to affordable child care, as a millennial with student loan debt that I'm still years away from paying off, and as a first-time homeowner who finally was able to buy a house in the district I represent after renting for over two decades.
And this is something I believe everyone in this chamber, Republican and Democrat alike, can agree on. Congress must do more to lower the crushing costs of electric bills, groceries, prescription drugs, housing, and more.
While I'd love to take a full hour today running through what we can and should do on all of these crises, I have only just a few minutes to focus on one.
Mr. Speaker, from my very first conversations nine years ago, when I first asked my neighbors to place their trust in me to represent them, to even just this weekend at the grocery store, I've heard from parents, I've heard from grandparents, I've heard from small businesses alike, that the child care crisis is suppressing our economy and forcing families to make impossible decisions.
It's more expensive to send one infant to daycare than it is to send an 18-year-old to the University of Maryland
Like every state, Maryland saw devastating losses in child care providers after the pandemic. We lost 15%, or 1,135 home-based child care providers, and that further pressured the market and limited options for families.
But I come to this floor with good news. I'm proud to share that in our state, education and nonprofit leaders are working to find innovative solutions to help families afford child care through scholarships and tax credits, but also – and this is crucial – to grow the supply of child care providers and create critically needed seats.
The Growing Opportunities for Family Child Care Program has opened nearly 300 day cares, or 2,000 child care slots in just three years by providing training, coaching, and resources to individuals, who happen to be almost entirely women, in opening and operating family child care businesses.
Now this is a win, win, win. We create more jobs in child care. We allow more parents to enter the workforce. And, we lower the cost of care through increased supply.
As a Congress, we need to work together to find common-sense policies that will make it easier for our neighbors, not just to get by, but to get ahead.
I call on my colleagues to join me in tackling these issues head on, together through difficult conversations, as we seek to do the unfashionable thing here in Washington: find common ground.
Because that is the fundamental promise of our country, to be able to give our kids and the next generation a better life than we had, and we can only do that by offering real, comprehensive, innovative solutions to the affordability crisis that families across this country are experiencing.
And with that, I yield back.
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