Advocates say the child care crisis is getting more attention in the presidential race, but there are unanswered questions about proposals from both sides. According to a poll conducted on behalf of the First Five Years Fund, an overwhelming majority of voters across the political spectrum say they want to see candidates’ plans to improve affordability. It comes as data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the cost of daycare and preschool is rising at more than double the rate of overall inflation, a reality that’s straining family budgets and hurting the broader economy. Melanie Call, a mother of three from Utah, said she had to walk away from her job because of child care challenges and inadequate workplace accommodations. Call has since become an advocate and says child care is her number one issue in the presidential race. “There’s a lot of women who have had to forego their careers so they can stay home, but it doesn’t feel like a choice,” Call said. “I want to hear concrete plans.”Increasing the child tax credit Both tickets have endorsed an expansion of the child tax credit, which currently provides up to $2,000 for each child under age 17.Vice President Kamala Harris has said she would increase the child tax credit to as much as $3,600 per eligible child and give families with newborns even more — $6,000 for the child’s first year.Former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, wants to increase the child tax credit to $5,000 per child. “It’s very encouraging to see folks both on the left and the right now understanding that this is a pain point for American families,” said National Parents Union President Keri Rodrigues.It’s unclear if either proposal would pass in Congress. In August, a bill that paired a more incremental expansion of the child tax credit with tax breaks for businesses failed to advance in the Senate. It won bipartisan support in the House, but only three Senate Republicans voted to move the measure forward. Capping costs Harris is proposing a cap on child care costs.“My plan is that no family, no working family, should pay more than 7% of their household income in child care,” Harris said during an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists. A similar pitch from President Joe Biden didn’t make the cut in Congress, but he later signed an executive order implementing a 7% cap for more than 100,000 low-income families that receive federal child care assistance. National Child Care Association director Cindy Lehnhoff raised concerns about how Harris would pay for her plan. “It definitely has some value to it, but the cost of it is going to be almost unaffordable, so we’re going to need some parameters around that,” Lehnhoff said. Expanding choiceTrump’s policy platform doesn’t include a specific proposal to make child care more affordable, but Vance has said the focus should be on expanding different models of care.“Let’s say you’d like your church, maybe, to help you out with child care. Maybe you live in a rural area or an urban area, and you’d like to get together with families in your neighborhood to provide child care in the way that makes the most sense. You don’t get access to any of these federal monies,” Vance said during the CBS vice presidential debate on Tuesday. “We want to promote choice in how we deliver family care and how we promote child care.” Rodrigues said she wants to see more details on how this would be implemented. “I think that there is good intention around wanting to provide more options in terms of family child care,” Rodrigues said. “What we don’t want to see is less regulation. We need to make sure that child care is safe.” Vance also defended previous statements from Trump, who suggested that his plan to increase tariffs on foreign imports would help address the child care crisis. “We’re going to be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s — relatively speaking — not very expensive, compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in,” Trump said at an Economic Club of New York event last month.Economists contest that and argue that Trump’s tariff policy would increase costs for American consumers. Supporting providersAs candidates largely focus on families, providers say they need support, too. “I’m hearing absolutely nothing about that,” said Tim Kaminski, who owns Gingerbread Kids Academy in Texas. Kaminski said they need more federal funding to keep rates affordable while costs, from insurance to payroll, are rising.”I’m looking for candidates that are going to support us as small businesses, but also treat us as an important part of the economy,” Kaminski said. The American Rescue Plan surged funding to stabilize the child care industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that money has since expired. The Biden-Harris administration says the investment supported more than 225,000 child care programs, helped boost worker wages and saved the average family roughly $1,250 per child per year. Trump has argued that the spending package, which covered a wide range of programs, contributed to inflation and crushed families’ purchasing power. In a 2021 op-ed, Vance criticized President Biden’s proposal to increase federal spending on child care, but he seemed to convey a different message in the CBS vice presidential debate.“We’re going to have to spend more money. We’re going to have to induce more people to want to provide child care options for American families because the reason it’s so expensive right now is because you’ve got way too few people providing this very essential service,” Vance said.
Advocates say the child care crisis is getting more attention in the presidential race, but there are unanswered questions about proposals from both sides.
According to a poll conducted on behalf of the First Five Years Fund, an overwhelming majority of voters across the political spectrum say they want to see candidates’ plans to improve affordability.
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It comes as data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the cost of daycare and preschool is rising at more than double the rate of overall inflation, a reality that’s straining family budgets and hurting the broader economy.
Melanie Call, a mother of three from Utah, said she had to walk away from her job because of child care challenges and inadequate workplace accommodations. Call has since become an advocate and says child care is her number one issue in the presidential race.
“There’s a lot of women who have had to forego their careers so they can stay home, but it doesn’t feel like a choice,” Call said. “I want to hear concrete plans.”
Increasing the child tax credit
Both tickets have endorsed an expansion of the child tax credit, which currently provides up to $2,000 for each child under age 17.
Vice President Kamala Harris has said she would increase the child tax credit to as much as $3,600 per eligible child and give families with newborns even more — $6,000 for the child’s first year.
Former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, wants to increase the child tax credit to $5,000 per child.
“It’s very encouraging to see folks both on the left and the right now understanding that this is a pain point for American families,” said National Parents Union President Keri Rodrigues.
It’s unclear if either proposal would pass in Congress. In August, a bill that paired a more incremental expansion of the child tax credit with tax breaks for businesses failed to advance in the Senate. It won bipartisan support in the House, but only three Senate Republicans voted to move the measure forward.
Capping costs
Harris is proposing a cap on child care costs.
“My plan is that no family, no working family, should pay more than 7% of their household income in child care,” Harris said during an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists.
A similar pitch from President Joe Biden didn’t make the cut in Congress, but he later signed an executive order implementing a 7% cap for more than 100,000 low-income families that receive federal child care assistance.
National Child Care Association director Cindy Lehnhoff raised concerns about how Harris would pay for her plan.
“It definitely has some value to it, but the cost of it is going to be almost unaffordable, so we’re going to need some parameters around that,” Lehnhoff said.
Expanding choice
Trump’s policy platform doesn’t include a specific proposal to make child care more affordable, but Vance has said the focus should be on expanding different models of care.
“Let’s say you’d like your church, maybe, to help you out with child care. Maybe you live in a rural area or an urban area, and you’d like to get together with families in your neighborhood to provide child care in the way that makes the most sense. You don’t get access to any of these federal monies,” Vance said during the CBS vice presidential debate on Tuesday. “We want to promote choice in how we deliver family care and how we promote child care.”
Rodrigues said she wants to see more details on how this would be implemented.
“I think that there is good intention around wanting to provide more options in terms of family child care,” Rodrigues said. “What we don’t want to see is less regulation. We need to make sure that child care is safe.”
Vance also defended previous statements from Trump, who suggested that his plan to increase tariffs on foreign imports would help address the child care crisis.
“We’re going to be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it’s — relatively speaking — not very expensive, compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in,” Trump said at an Economic Club of New York event last month.
Economists contest that and argue that Trump’s tariff policy would increase costs for American consumers.
Supporting providers
As candidates largely focus on families, providers say they need support, too.
“I’m hearing absolutely nothing about that,” said Tim Kaminski, who owns Gingerbread Kids Academy in Texas.
Kaminski said they need more federal funding to keep rates affordable while costs, from insurance to payroll, are rising.
“I’m looking for candidates that are going to support us as small businesses, but also treat us as an important part of the economy,” Kaminski said.
The American Rescue Plan surged funding to stabilize the child care industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that money has since expired. The Biden-Harris administration says the investment supported more than 225,000 child care programs, helped boost worker wages and saved the average family roughly $1,250 per child per year.
Trump has argued that the spending package, which covered a wide range of programs, contributed to inflation and crushed families’ purchasing power.
In a 2021 op-ed, Vance criticized President Biden’s proposal to increase federal spending on child care, but he seemed to convey a different message in the CBS vice presidential debate.
“We’re going to have to spend more money. We’re going to have to induce more people to want to provide child care options for American families because the reason it’s so expensive right now is because you’ve got way too few people providing this very essential service,” Vance said.
