VP Kamala Harris visits N.J., makes strong pitch for plan to help parents pay for child care – NJ.com

As Congress begins drafting the next federal spending plan, Vice President Kamala Harris came to New Jersey on Friday and made a strong pitch to make sure new funding for child care was in the legislation.

Harris visited the Ben Samuels Children’s Center at Montclair State University in Little Falls, her first stop on a day-long trip to the Garden State.

“Our nation is strongest when everyone is able to participate,” Harris said during a roundtable discussion at the facility with Gov. Phil Murphy; U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-11th Dist; and five educators. “This is fundamentally what the issue is about when it comes to working parents.”

President Joe Biden included the funding in what is now a $3.5 trillion spending bill, though that amount likely will shrink as the legislation moves through the House and Senate. Biden also proposed including steps to fight climate change and expand health care coverage in the legislation, known as the Build Better Act.

That’s also the vehicle for Congress to address the Republican tax law’s $10,000 cap on deducting state and local taxes.

Harris noted that two million women in the U.S. left the workforce during the coronavirus pandemic.

“A working person cannot go to work if they have no one to take care of their kids,” the vice president said.

Sherrill, a mother of four children, said she knows first hand about the difficulty of child care.

“Women losing ground is America’s middle class losing ground,” the congresswoman said. “This is an economic issue.”

Murphy said the child care provisions in the Biden spending bill “would be a game changer for New Jersey” as he endorsed both that bill and the infrastructure bill.

”The pandemic clobbered us,” the Democratic governor said. “It clobbered families. It especially clobbered working moms.”

Before the roundtable discussion, Harris, Murphy, and Sherrill walked through the classroom at the center and spoke to the children, who are between 3 and 5 years old.

One kid asked Harris: “Are you older than 8 years old?”

“I’m a bit more than 8 years old,” the vice president said.

Harris told the kids: “I’m working with the governor on the future of New Jersey.”

Murphy responded: “You’ve come to Ground Zero.”

Harris’ visit comes as Murphy runs for re-election Nov. 2.

She praised Murphy as a “true leader” and told Sherrill, “I’ve known of your work in the halls of the United States Congress.”

About 30 unauthorized immigrants and students assembled across the street from the child care center, calling on Harris to support a path to citizenship in the spending bill through reconciliation.

“As an essential health care worker during the pandemic, I put my life at risk every day to help keep a health clinic open,” said Mariana Velasquez, a member of Make the Road NJ, who organized the protest. “But I fear being separated from my children. New Jersey is my home.”

After the Montclair appearance, Harris is scheduled to head to Essex County College in Newark to tour its vaccination site.

The White House has been pushing the need for all Americans to be vaccinated against the COVID-19, including imposing mandates on federal workers and other groups.

More than 5.91 million people who live, work or study in New Jersey — a state of about 9.2 million residents — have been fully vaccinated as Friday. Murphy said more that makes up more than 75% of eligible people in the state, one of the highest vaccination rates in the nation.

New Jersey, an early epicenter of the pandemic, has reported 27,570 total COVID-19 deaths in slightly more than 19 months. That’s the second-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S.

This story will be updated.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.

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