NPR reported over the weekend that the Trump administration’s budget would include increased spending on child care, a policy priority of Ivanka Trump.
Quartz reported American families “with a child under five with no special needs, no public assistance, and who is in daycare for at least eight hours a week spends a median of $5.31 per hour and $8,320 per year” on child care, according to a 2018 study.
Quartz also notes that some lower-income families have been priced out of child care altogether and that families in higher income brackets are willing to spend more on child care.
But families, don’t budget for the Trump proposal yet.
From NPR’s reporting.
Presidential budgets are policy statements, frequently ignored by Congress, and this one is no different (It has already been declared a “nonstarter” by Democrats.) So in a way, this is Ivanka Trump and the White House signaling that they want in on a debate already underway in the business world and in politics about this “ever growing challenge.”
NPR also notes that the proposal would get states involved.
The centerpiece is a proposed one-time investment of $1 billion to increase the supply of child care to underserved populations. States would apply for funding and could use it to encourage employers large and small to invest in child care or to support child care providers that operate during nontraditional work hours or that cater to parents who are enrolled in school.
What makes child care so expensive? And how effective could the White House proposal be in alleviating that burden?
Produced by Morgan Givens.
Guests
- Gina Adams Senior fellow, The Center on Labor, Human Services and Population, The Urban Institute
- Elaine Weiss Former national coordinator, Broader Bolder Approach to education campaign, Economic Policy Institute