Sen. Tim Kaine part of effort to get Congress to address childcare needs

We want people to have kids, we want people to work, but we don’t put nearly enough into childcare – where the folks who work in it are grossly underpaid, and the people who have to pay for it are left to their own devices.

This is among the most obvious things that we get wrong, and have gotten wrong for years, decades.

“Despite consistent bipartisan support for increasing investments in federal childcare assistance, funding for the childcare system has not met the needs of American families. The challenges affecting access to childcare are not new, and this shortage has continued to strain our economy,” a group of 100, surprise, Democratic lawmakers wrote in a letter to congressional leadership this week.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., is among those in the group.

Kaine, who was re-elected to the Senate earlier this month, has been on the frontlines of the childcare issue for a while now.

Back in the summer, Kaine, along with Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt, the one from the GOP response to the State of the Union, introduced two pieces of bipartisan legislation that together form a proposal to make childcare 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 percent of their income on childcare.

Back to the letter:

“The broken childcare market has created increasing tension among families, workers, and providers: childcare providers cannot afford to run their businesses or pay adequate wages to their staff using only revenue from parents, and while childcare costs remain unaffordable and unsustainable for working families. For years, the situation has been a nightmare for families, particularly for many families with low incomes, families of color, families seeking infant and toddler care, parents who need specialized care for children with disabilities, and those who need care during non-traditional hours. These costs are forcing parents – specifically women – out of the workforce.

“It is essential Congress again act in a bipartisan manner to expand and restore critical federal resources for affordable, high-quality childcare. By securing robust funding for childcare in the FY 2025 appropriations legislation, we can meet the needs of families, providers, and employers. The temporary, federal childcare funds and historic increases to annual childcare funding provided much-needed lifelines to the childcare industry, but it is crucial that, at minimum, we sustain that level of investment to secure this sector’s survival and prevent this emergency from worsening.”