In Case You Missed It: Vice President Harris and Secretary Yellen Make the Case for Build Back Better Investments in Childcare

Yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made the case for the Biden-Harris Administration's proposed investments in childcare that will benefit women, children, and working families. In her first visit to the Treasury Department since taking office, the Vice President announced the release of a major Treasury report on the economics of childcare. It finds that the proposals in the Build Back Better Agenda would address market failures, help mothers and fathers remain in the labor force, make childcare more affordable for families across the nation, and ensure we can prepare our children for the future.

Immediately after taking office, Vice President Harris called the mass exodus of women leaving the workforce a national emergency – elevating the crisis. The pandemic has hit women workers hard – and the complete breakdown of childcare infrastructure is an important reason why. Working alongside President Biden, the Vice President continues to make the case that we must fix our nation's child care system – to help women and working families. She has convened leaders in business and advocacy communities, and visited women-led small businesses across the country to hear how women have been impacted by the pandemic – including how they have been impacted by the child care system. The Vice President has also visited child care centers to see firsthand the challenges that parents and workers face, and addressed international institutions on the issue of how to make the world work for women.

Read more below:

AP: Harris, Yellen make a personal case for fixing child care
Josh Boak, 9/15/2021

The U.S. Treasury Department issued a report Wednesday that detailed the high price and low wages for child care, a problem that makes it harder for parents to work and one that the Biden administration aims to fix with its budget proposal. Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen presented the findings in remarks that drew on personal experiences. Harris recalled spending weekdays with Regina Shelton, who ran a childcare center from her home while the vice president's mother was in the lab researching breast cancer. "She became a second mother to my sister and me," Harris said. "My mother often said that, but for Miss Shelton, she would not have been able to do the work that she did." […]

The Biden administration says it can resolve these problems through a substantial increase in investment in young children. It would cap child care expenses at 7% of a family's income. Universal pre-school for 3 and 4-year-olds would be provided. Families with children under 13 could receive dependent care tax credits of $4,000 per child or $8,000 for two or more children. The government would also fund child care centers to ensure workers can receive a living wage. Another key element would be the expanded child tax credit, which is providing families with children under the age of 6 with $300 a month per child and $250 monthly for older children.

Reuters: Yellen, Harris urge childcare investments to boost overall U.S. economy
Andrea Shalal, 9/15/2021

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday called for urgent action to make affordable childcare available to more families, calling such investments critical to ensuring U.S. growth and global competitiveness. Harris and Yellen lauded a new Treasury report that charts the failures of the current privately-financed childcare system and shows the positive impact for women, families and the overall economy from the increased public spending envisioned in President Joe Biden's $3.5 billion legislation package. "This is a fight for our future," Harris said during her first visit to Treasury since taking office. She pointed to estimates that U.S. gross domestic product would expand by 5% if women participated in the workforce at the same rate as men. […]

Harris again called the pandemic-triggered mass exodus of women leaving the workforce "a national emergency." "If we intend to fully recover from the pandemic, if we intend to fully compete on a global scale, we must ensure the full participation of women in the workforce," Harris said.

CBS News: Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen push child care spending as Treasury report calls it unaffordable for most families
Sarah Ewall-Wice, 9/16/2021

The average family with at least one child under 5 would need to spend approximately 13% of its income on child care, a price that is unaffordable for most families, a new Treasury Department report finds. Only 20% of children eligible for one of the largest federal assistance programs for low-income families actually receive the financial help. The administration's report was released as Biden officials are trying to include child care as part of a massive $3.5 trillion spending package making its way through Congress.

"Child care is what makes it possible for millions of Americans to work," Vice President Kamala Harris said at an event Wednesday alongside Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. […] The Biden administration is pushing for a series of policies to help families with children, including providing access to more affordable child care to low- and middle-class families. The goal is for families to put no more than 7% of their income into child care for young children, via subsidies and tax credits. They're also pushing for universal preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds, and expanding tax credits for children.

LA Times: Harris and Yellen urge Congress to pass spending plan to enhance access to child care
Erin Logan, 9/15/2021

Vice President Kamala Harris pressed lawmakers on Wednesday to back legislation that she said would expand access to child care and raise the wages of day-care workers, even as her party's massive spending initiative is facing resistance from key Democrats.

The push from Harris, who joined Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen in releasing a Treasury report that made the case for the proposal, came the same day that President Biden is reported to have met with a pair of centrist Democrats who have indicated they do not support the overall costs of the party's $3.5-trillion spending plan. […]

In her first visit as vice president to the Treasury Department, Harris described the "mass exodus" of women from the job market amid the COVID-19 pandemic as a "national emergency" and said many women have left the workforce to take on child-care duties. This measure is a way to get these women back to work, Harris said. "If we intend to fully recover from the pandemic ... and fully compete on a global scale," she said, "we must ensure the full participation of women in the workforce."

NY Times: The Biden administration looks to expanded child care funds to combat labor shortages.
Alan Rappeport, 9/15/2021

The Biden administration is trying to build support for proposals to overhaul the nation's rickety child care system as it pushes Congress to embrace a $3.5 trillion plan to expand social safety programs and looks for ways to combat ongoing labor shortages.

In a new report released on Wednesday, the Treasury Department painted a dire picture of child care in America, outlining what it called failures by the private sector to provide high-quality care at affordable prices and making the case that the federal government must do more to help families care for their children. […]

On Wednesday afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Treasury Department to make the case for more child care funding and described the lack of quality care in the country a national emergency.

"Childcare remains too expensive and out of reach for far too many working families in our country," Ms. Harris said, adding that other advanced economies invest more in child care than the United States. "We need to bring costs down with a significant investment in our child care industry."

CNBC: America's 'unworkable' child-care system is failing families, Treasury Department says
Ylan Mui, 9/15/2021

The Treasury Department has determined that the nation's child-care system is "unworkable," saying it is plagued by market failures that put quality care out of reach for many families. In a report released Wednesday, Treasury details the struggle many parents face to afford child care, especially as bills pile up before their peak earning years. At the same time, Treasury found that many industry workers are paid low wages, suffer high turnover and face discrimination. Treasury is making the case for federal government support for paid family leave, universal preschool and significant tax credits for parents and dependent care as Democrats in Congress work to write a social-spending bill that could total $3.5 trillion.

"The pandemic has hit women workers extremely hard and disproportionately," Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday afternoon. "From Day One, as Secretary Yellen can attest, our administration has been hard at work to get women back to work. And I believe this is a fight for our future."

NBC: Harris and Yellen urge Congress to back affordable child care proposal
Ben Popken, 9/15/2021

In her first visit to the Treasury Department since taking office, Vice President Kamala Harris urged Congress Wednesday to fund the largest-ever federal investment in affordable child care, wielding a new Treasury report on the positive economic impact of such caregiving.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said enacting these and other plans in the administration's "Build Back Better" package are "the single most important thing we can do to build a stronger economy over the next several decade."