On January 3rd, 2019, 435 representatives and 100 senators were sworn into the 116th United States Congress. Now there are 102 female representatives in the house and 23 females in the Senate. [1]
Many of these women are mothers to a couple of children. Twenty-six of the thirty-nine newly elected women are mothers.
New Day Care
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, recently helped design a day care for the children of House employees. The new daycare is situated next to the Capitol and costs over $12 million to create. The day care will hold about 120 infants and toddlers, and by 2020 they hope to be able to care for 122 kindergarteners and preschoolers. [2]
Lately, people have been leaving their jobs at the House because the wait list for day care is so long. “It’s really upsetting to see because they make the decision to leave the Hill and leave public service because the cost of private day care is difficult to maintain on some of the congressional salaries,” says Melissa Murphy, chief of staff to Rep. David Rouzer.
Shortening the Wait List
The wait was over three years long and creating this new day care has shortened the wait list down to one year. The cost of using the day care runs between $1,100 and $1,700 a month, which is a deal compared to the extravagant prices of private day cares in Washington D.C.
This day care is hoped to keep the female staff working at the House even when they plan to have, or already have, a child.
Notes:
- ^“So Many Moms Were Just Sworn Into Congress, It Needs On-Site Daycare.” Red Tricycle, 5 Jan. 2019, redtri.com/meet-the-newly-elected-moms-of-116th-us-congress-house-senate. (go back ↩)
- ^“Lawmakers Hope New House Day Care Will Keep Staff On Capitol Hill.” NPR.org, 1 Jan. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/01/01/681239353/lawmakers-hope-new-house-day-care-will-keep-staff-on-capitol-hill. (go back ↩)
