Center for American Progress: The Build Back Better Act Substantially Expands Child Care Assistance
(Washington, D.C.) – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s (D-WA) child care proposal in Build Back Better would expand child care assistance for thousands of working families in Washington state and across the country, according to a policy report published by the Center for American Progress (CAP). The analysis by CAP indicates that under the current law, only 6.3% of children in the state qualify for child care subsidies, and Build Back Better would increase the figure to 92.5%, making 14.6 times more children newly eligible for more affordable child care.
The child care and universal pre-K policies in the Build Back Better package were modeled off Senator Murray’s Child Care for Working Families Act, and would dramatically lower child care costs for the vast majority of working families in America, drastically increase the number of child care providers nationwide, raise child care workers’ wages, and establish free pre-k for every family.
“Our child care crisis is one of the reasons I ran for office in the first place. To this day, when I talk to workers, parents, and business owners, the first thing they tell me is finding and affording child care is keeping people from getting back to work. Congress needs to finally make child care a priority. That’s why I am focused on passing a bill that will lower costs for parents, pay child care workers what they deserve, and make child care accessible in every community. For too long, our country has told working parents ‘you’re on your own’ when it comes to child care instead of ‘we’ve got your back.’ I am fighting with everything I’ve got to change that,” said Senator Murray.
Right now, the country’s child care crisis is causing a massive financial strain on working families, forcing parents—and in particular, women—out of the workforce, and leaving child care workers unable to make ends meet. With child care costs currently just over $1,300 per month, families with infants would need to pay nearly $16,000 per year on average to cover the cost of high-quality child care. Sixteen thousand dollars is 21 percent of the U.S. average income for a family of three. At the same time, child care workers are struggling to make ends meet.
Under the child care proposal in the Build Back Better Act modeled off of Senator Murray’s Child Care for Working Families Act, families across the country would save an average of $5,000-$6,500 a year in child care costs and millions would pay nothing at all. For example, when fully implemented, no family of four in Washington state making less than $254,000 would spend more than 7% of their income on child care, resulting in big savings for Washington families. A family of four making $151,000 in Washington state would save $164 per week on child care. Many families earning lower incomes would pay nothing at all. A family of four in Washington earning less than $76,000 would receive free child care.
In addition to making child care more affordable, Senator Murray’s plan would greatly increase the supply of child care in local communities. More than 50% of Americans—and 60% of rural Americans—live in child care deserts, or communities with an inadequate supply of licensed child care—and this was before COVID-19 forced over 20,000 providers to close their doors. Senator Murray’s child care proposal would invest in building up our child care supply so that every family has access to quality child care that they can afford.
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