Kaine seeks increase in child care support in federal funding bill

washington — U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va., wants to see an increase in funding for child care support in the fiscal year 2025 federal funding bill.

Kaine has joined 100 other lawmakers in seeking the increase in child care funding.

“Despite consistent bipartisan support for increasing investments in federal child care assistance, funding for the child care system has not met the needs of American families,” Kaine and the 100 other lawmakers wrote in a letter to congressional leadership. “The challenges affecting access to child care are not new, and this shortage has continued to strain our economy. The broken child care market has created increasing tension among families, workers, and providers: child care providers cannot afford to run their businesses or pay adequate wages to their staff using only revenue from parents, and while child care costs remain unaffordable and unsustainable for working families.”

Kaine, a member of the Senate, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said he wants Congress to act in a bipartisan manner to expand and restore critical federal resources for affordable, high-quality child care.

In July, Kaine introduced two pieces of bipartisan legislation with Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) that together form a proposal to make child care more affordable and accessible by strengthening existing tax credits to lower child care costs and increase the supply of child care providers.

Kaine has also introduced the Child Care for Working Families Act, legislation that would expand access to child care, raise wages for providers, and lower costs for families by ensuring no family pays more than 7% of their income on child care.

In addition to Kaine, U.S. Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., also is backing the increase in child care funding.