Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign released their official policy platform Monday. There are nineteen official policy sections on her website. Despite the characterizations from the Donald Trump campaign that Harris’s policies are ‘vague and thin’, she has taken positions on education and healthcare. In this latest chapter of policy debates, let’s compare and contrast each campaign’s positions on childcare, in light of recent events.
Recently, former President Donald Trump and Senator J.D. Vance were asked questions regarding childcare. The Republican ticket is casting themselves as the candidates for ‘real Americans’. Americans have made clear in polling that the costs of childcare is an ever present issue. According to a recent survey by Care.com, 88% of respondents said a candidate’s position on childcare costs would influence their vote. In light of this study, Reshma Saujani, founder of Moms First and Girls Who Code, posed the following question to Trump at the Economic Club of New York:
“Child care is now more expensive than rent for working families and is costing the economy more than $122 billion a year, making it one of the most urgent economic issues that is facing our country. If you win in November, can you commit to prioritizing legislation to make child care affordable? And if so, what specific piece of legislation will you advance?”
Perplexing Answers
Trump offered a response that can be described as puzzling.
“And we’re sitting down — you know, I was somebody — we had Senator Marco Rubio and my daughter Ivanka was so impactful on that issue,” Mr. Trump continued, referring to the pair’s previous push for paid family leave and expanding the child tax credit. “It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about that — because the child care is, child care, it’s, couldn’t, you know, there’s something, you have to have it. In this country, you have to have it.
“But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to, but they’ll get used to it very quickly — and it’s not going to stop them from doing business with us, but they’ll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country. Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we’re talking about, including child care, that it’s going to take care.”
Yes, child care is something that’s important and you have to have it.
While this report will not conduct the exercise of ‘sane-washing’ what Trump said to Saujani. However, this type of answer will continue to plague the campaign. Why? Trump has never stayed on message during his time in the political eye. As a result, Agenda47 and Project 2025 exist today in order to help Trump equivocate his message to the media. In teh shadows, individuals are behind the scenes creating the slogans that the former president can promote at the stump.
During a clip from a sit-down interview with Charlie Kirk, a Turning Point Action founder, J.D. Vance was asked, “How will we lower the cost of daycare?” Here is Vance’s response in its entirety:
“One of the ways that you might be able to relieve a little bit of pressure on people who are paying so much for daycare is maybe grandma and grandpa want to help out a little bit more,” Vance responded. “Or maybe there’s an aunt or uncle who wants to help out a little bit more. If that happens, you relieve some pressure on all the resources that we’re spending in daycare.”
Official Policy Positions
Referencing Project 2025, it states that “children who spend significant time in day care experience higher rates of anxiety, depression, and neglect as well as poor educational and developmental outcomes. Instead of providing universal day care, funding should go to parents either to offset the cost of staying home with a child or to pay for familial, in-home childcare.”
However, many Americans cannot simply rely on help from family for childcare.
Former President Trump proposed six weeks of paid maternity leave in 2018. It also includes a rebate of up to $1,200 annually for low income families. Vance has said he wants to raise the Child Tax Credit to $5,000. According to Project 2025, families who earn more than $500,000 will not be eligible for a tax break. Also, single parents making more than $250,000 will not qualify.
Meanwhile, the Harris Campaign says it intends to bring back the pandemic-era expanded child tax credit. It allows for a credit of up to $3,600 a child per family, even for low-income families. However, a measure that could have accomplished the same fate, failed to pass the Senate last month. Not enough Republicans supported it. Trump’s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, did not show up for the vote.
Harris also supports a tax credit for parents of newborns. The expanded credit from the American Rescue Plan helped reduce the child poverty rate roughly in half in 2021. The plan lifted 2 million children out of poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. As president, Harris would also add a $6,000 baby bonus for newborns. Harris calls for a tax credit of $3,600 for children 2-5 (up from the current level of $2,000), and $3,000 for older children.
Child Care: The Government’s Price Tag
On September 15, 2021, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said child care is the textbook example of ‘a broken market.’ While labor costs are low, the cost of carrying insurance and the expenses of running a day care are largely paid for by families.
“An enormous body of economic literature finds that kids with access to quality child care end up in school longer and in higher-paying jobs afterward,” Yellen said. “When we underinvest in child care, we forgo that; we give up a happier, healthier, more prosperous labor force in the future.”
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced a plan in 2019 called the Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act. It creates a mandatory federal investment to partner with local providers. The end result is to establish a new network of child care and early learning options for children from birth to school age. It also includes centers and family child care (FCC) homes. This is relevant because again, many Americans cannot rely on the help from family members alone for childcare services. Warren’s original plan would cost an estimated $70 billion per year. Comparatively, Build Back Better’s proposals for affordable child care and universal prekindergarten were estimated to cost $400 billion over ten years.
Ultimately, Trump’s incomprehensible comments regarding child care have reminded observers that he has never cared about policy. But, as childcare costs continue to soar, the voters are asking for answers. Meanwhile, do not be shocked about what it may potentially cost the United States Government.