Childcare and Early Childhood Education: We’re Number 28
As part of the “Build Back Better” plan the Biden administration described the childcare provisions as “the largest investment in childcare in the nation’s history,” a $425 billion package including universal and free kindergarten, expanded child tax credits, and a wage boost for caregivers. But the effort was stalled in Congress. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican-Kentucky) berated the childcare provisions as a “toddler takeover.” The Democrats, McConnell insisted in a floor speech, “want to ram though a radical, reckless, multi-trillion-dollar taxing and spending spree between now and Christmas. And a huge part of their bill would completely upend childcare and pre-K as they exist for families across America.” The legislation was stalled and ultimately died.
In April 2023, President Joe Biden tried again, bypassing Congress and signing an executive order directing federal agencies to make childcare cheaper and more accessible. Biden noted that “almost every federal agency will collectively take over fifty actions to provide more peace of mind for families and dignity for care workers.” Biden emphasized that this executive order, limited to the action of the federal agencies, wouldn’t require any new spending. “It’s about making sure taxpayers get the best value for the investments they’ve already made.” Executive agencies would lower co-pays for services, ensure that Medicare and Medicaid dollars could go further, improve care for veterans and Native Americans. This executive order was certainly helpful, but these provisions are a far cry from his earlier, unrealized commitment for $225 billion to cover childcare for low-income parents and another $200 billion for universal preschool education. Despite the efforts of the Biden administration and the signing of the executive order, a comprehensive federal childcare program is still not a reality.
During the pandemic, Congress set aside $24 billion in stimulus money for childcare. It helped keep many childcare facilities afloat. Yet during the first two years of the pandemic one-tenth (20,000) of all childcare centers folded. When the federal money ran out in September 2023, the Century Fund estimated that 70,000 childcare programs would close, affecting 3.2 million children, and causing a $10.6 billion loss to the US economy.
For single parents in the United States, the childcare costs as a percentage of their net income are the highest among all the OECD countries. For single parents in the United States, up to 50 percent of their income goes to childcare; for New Zealand single mothers it is 14 percent, for mothers in the United Kingdom, it is 8 percent; for German single parents, the percentage of childcare costs is 1 percent.
Sources: Floor statement of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, December 7, 2021, https://www.republicanleader.senate.gov/newsroom/remarks/democrats-toddler-takeover-huge-childcare-inflation-and-discrimination-against-religion; Michael D. Shear, “Biden Signs Executive Order That Aims to Make Childcare Cheaper,” New York Times, April 18, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/18/us/politics/biden-executive-order-child-care.html; Abha Bhattarai, “Childcare is About to Get More Expensive, As Federal Funds Dry Up,” Washington Post, September 5, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/09/05/child-care-cliff-day-care/.
