Murray Secures $1 Billion Funding Boost for Child Care in Tight Budget Deal
• Patty Murray, Senate Appropriations Committee chair, won $1 billion funding increase for child care in tight budget negotiations • Funding includes $1 billion more for subsidies for low-income families and $275 million more for Head Start in 2024 • Murray has long prioritized child care funding since her "mom in tennis shoes" days over 40 years ago • Child care system is under strain as temporary pandemic funds have expired • Murray worked with House counterpart Rosa DeLauro to push funding increase despite Biden-McCarthy budget deal freezing most spending