U.S. Senator Katie Britt Discusses Child Care Solutions to Labor Force Participation with Labor Secretary

‘If you want to reengage in the workforce and help with President Trump’s vision of building back America, then I want to make sure that we remove those impediments’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) recently attended a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing with Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer to discuss the President’s Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Budget Request for the Department of Labor.

In response to Senator Britt’s initial line of questioning in which she asked the Secretary what she has learned on her ‘America at Work’ tour, Secretary Chavez-DeRemer responded, “On the ground, the questions that I ask when I’m visiting with these American workers is, what are the barriers? How can we assist you? What’s the workforce training? What gets in the way of you deciding to join the labor force? And those answers can be vast, obviously. It can be families, it can be childcare, it can be funding to get the skills that they need. So, my job is to fill in those gaps.”

“Whether I am at the top of the state or the bottom of the state, or whether I’m out at my largest manufacturer or a small business on Main Street, they say workforce is an issue and they continually either lose people because of reliability or affordability of child care and or, it is more challenging to recruit . . . if you want and have the opportunity to stay home, I absolutely want that for you. But if you want to reengage in the workforce and help with President Trump’s vision of building back America, then I want to make sure that we remove those impediments,” Senator Britt stated.

Senator Britt continued asking if the Secretary “can say definitively that this is something you hear from workers, [at] both large and small [businesses], and employers across the country?”

“Absolutely. And in Congress, I heard it as well. I did a listening tour in Congress, through agriculture. That’s not a place that I would have thought I would have heard childcare for our farmers and ranchers,” Secretary Chavez-DeRemer responded.

“I have a specific piece of legislation, a bipartisan piece of legislation, the Child Care . . . Availability and Affordability Act that really puts parents back in the driver’s seat, and also encourages businesses, both large and small, to be a part of the solution. I think it’s critically important that we empower parents, we empower hardworking Americans, and we help create a path for their American Dream and for prosperity,” Senator Britt stated.

“. . . knowing that we could be doing more to help these hardworking parents, I think you would say that’s something that you agree with,” Senator Britt continued, to which the Secretary responded, “Absolutely.”

Senator Britt continued her line of questioning: “We’ve been building (momentum) in a bipartisan way. I think this is something Americans deserve better from us, and we’re trying to produce that. Last year I actually asked the Federal Reserve chair about these commonsense reforms that I’m talking to you about and (I) said, if we were to do this would this actually help with our labor participation rate? And he said absolutely, so I’m glad that you agree.”

Senator Britt’s legislation has continued to build bipartisan support. Most recently, Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) have joined the bill as cosponsors. Senator Britt recently delivered remarks on the Senate floor on her bill, saying, “For the first time in years, the Republican Party controls both chambers of Congress . . .  and the White House. We have an opportunity we can’t afford to waste. If we truly are the party of parents, families, and hardworking Americans, we have an opportunity to prove it. Let’s address the child care crisis in this year’s tax package . . .”

In her final line of questioning, Senator Britt asked Secretary Chavez-DeRemer about the Department of Labor’s Registered Apprenticeship Program to increase labor force participation by providing employers access to a larger talent pool.

“One million apprentices is what the president is asking in order to fulfill the need for those workers to grow this economy, we have anywhere between [680,000] to 700,000 apprentices now. We want more apprentices in the pipeline . . . International Association of Firefighters just launched their first apprenticeship program because we know we need our firefighters throughout the country. I think we’ve added about 83 apprentices since January. So, we’re well on our way to that million,” the Secretary responded.

The Senator’s line of questioning can be viewed here.

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