Tucker.

U.S.

Congressman Morgan McGarvie was in Louisville Monday to take part in a roundtable discussion on child care in the state.

The Prichard Committee hosted the event that focused on the need for affordable, accessible and high quality early care and education programs.

Members of the roundtable pointed out that child care costs as much as college education in a year, leaving many families with little to no options when it comes to child care.

And that's having an impact on Kentucky's workforce.

And data will show that's one of the reasons Kentucky has one of the worst workforce participation rates in the nation.

We consistently rank in the bottom ten of the nation, while at the same time ranking in the bottom ten for poverty.

So it's clear these things are linked.

So to deal with the affordability of child care is to help Kentucky move forward.

Choosing between bad options, you can't make a good decision.

And so I think that is a reason our workforce participation is low.

You know, families know how expensive child care is.

And look, if you're having to choose between whether you're going to stay home, take care of your kid or, you know, you're going take your kids, right, and take care of your kids.

That's what parents do and we'll take care of the kids.

And we've got to have that affordability in child care.

And we've seen that we can do it.

We've seen that it is to me, it's a national priority.

The group said state and federal government needs to help low and middle income families access and pay for quality child care.