pandemic era Government funding is set to expire this month for the child care industry presenting a new crisis for hundreds of thousands of families across the country experts are warning some 70 thousand Child Care programs including many in New Jersey could close their doors leaving parents with even fewer and less affordable options senior correspondent Joanna gagas reports we have seen in this Congress proposals to massive cuts to Head Start after the last Congress where we funded them I have to say that that would be a huge mistake Mikie Sherrill says New Jersey and the nation are about to fall off a child care Cliff if proposed cuts to Early Education programs like this Head Start program in Dover are enacted in Congress on top of this the pandemic relief funding that we put in place is facing what many of you may have heard of as the child care Cliff it runs out at the end of September American Rescue plan dollars from the pandemic helped the families of 3 million children afford child care but as of September 30th those funds will run out meaning more than a thousand child care provider facilities here in New Jersey alone could close their doors the American Rescue plan which was the Federal covet dollars that supported Child Care was they were really a Lifeline for programs for Working Families because it didn't just look at what's traditionally funded by the federal government which is low income uh Working Families it looked at the totality of the system the problem is without those dollars we're looking at a system that was fragile before covid becoming even more of a problem it could impact 305 families whose kids attend Head Start Community program of Morris County here in Dover forcing their parents to stop working when they lose child care if those funds are threatened those families will not be able to receive services from Head Start we also provide the whole day child care that they would not be able to receive the youngest children who are from birth all the way up to age three would have no Services whatsoever and research tells us that for brain development that period is the most important from zero to three and then subsequently from four to five Sherrill's joined with other members of Congress including Senator Corey Booker urging Pres President Biden to work with Congress to provide 16 billion dollars a year to avoid a child care crisis without Federal action we'll see Ripple effects across every corner of the economy the congresswoman has also been on the road telling residents in her District about a bill she's drafted called the child care for every family act that would dedicate Federal funding to help families afford child care and help providers pay their staff in this piece of legislation no one would pay more than seven percent of their income on child care I anticipate that there will be a combination of private and government funding and again there will be that seven percent and depending on a person's income that could be some you know that could be quite a contribution but it I think this is something that I do Envision will be widely supported by the government because this is how we bolster our Workforce and with the economy and inflation being what they are Megan tavarmina says inaction from Congress will land us right back where we just came from back in 2020 we saw what happened right we saw what happened we took Child Care away and the ripple effect on every industry in society right it had a great impact on our economy it had a great impact on our K-12 system Congress talks about the investment that they need to make they need to understand that everything is linked to child care because working parents need it to go to work the congresswoman says she'll be working tirelessly to secure this funding when she returns to Washington next week in Dover I'm Joanna Gagis NJ Spotlight News