(The Center Square) – For the ninth year in a row, two lawmakers have submitted proposed legislation that would compel federal taxpayers to subsidize 90% of the cost of childcare and universal preschool.
Critics of the bill argue that it would likely hike taxes and balloon the federal deficit.
The Child Care for Working Families Act, reintroduced Tuesday in both chambers of Congress by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., aims to lower the cost of childcare for parents by funneling taxpayer dollars into new and existing childcare and education programs.
If the legislation is enacted, the federal government, which is unlikely in the Republican-controlled Congress, would spend potentially hundreds of billions of dollars per year subsidizing childcare costs and early childhood education programs in all 50 states using taxpayer dollars.
Specifically, the federal government would partner with states to cover 90% of state expenditures on direct childcare services, lowering the cost of childcare for the typical American family to less than $15 dollars per day.
Depending on income level, some families would pay no income on childcare at all. The bill would also require that no family, regardless of their number of children, would pay more than 7% of their annual income on childcare.
Currently, the average family using childcare services spends $13,128 per year on childcare.
Under the bill, the federal government would also provide funds for states to improve childcare workforce training; boost childcare workers’ salaries to a “livable” wage; provide grants to communities to build, expand, maintain or repair childcare facilities; and prioritize entities serving “underserved populations.”
Additionally, grants for Head Start programs would expand so that agencies could offer full school year, full school day childcare services.
Other sections of the bill authorize expanding childcare and development block grants and starting the process of establishing universal preschool.
“This isn’t just a bill about childcare. This is a bill to end the childcare crisis and give every parent access to quality, affordable childcare,” Murray said at a news conference Tuesday. “Our bill would also dramatically expand access to Pre-K and Head Start programs across the country, and finally, set us on a path to universal Pre-K.”
One study has estimated that the lack of sufficient childcare costs the nation $122 billion annually due to lower earnings and thus lower tax revenue.
