Warren Proposes Federally Funded Universal Child Care Bill
Democratic presidential contender Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on Tuesday formally introduced her $70 billion-a-year proposal to provide child care that would be free for many Americans.
“As the wealthiest country in the world, access to affordable and high-quality child care and early education should be a right for all families rather than a privilege for only the rich,” Warren said in a statement.
Warren’s Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act, originally unveiled in February, would provide free child care and early education to families living below the 200 percent poverty threshold.
For 2019, under federal poverty guidelines, a single mother with one child would need to earn less than $33,820 to qualify for free care.
Families that make too much money to get free care would pay no more than 7 percent of their income, according to Warren.
Warren’s position paper in support of her plan, which is based on a 1971 child care proposal vetoed by then-President Richard Nixon, states that the costs of the plan will come from taxing the richest Americans.
“After accounting for the economic impacts of this proposal, Moody’s Analytics estimates that the program would cost the federal government approximately $70 billion per year or $700 billion over 10 years,” the position paper states.
“Senator Warren’s proposed Ultra- Millionaire tax is projected to raise nearly four times that amount of revenue over the same period. Consequently, if Congress funded this program using revenue from Senator Warren’s proposed Ultra- Millionaire Tax, the program would increase productivity and labor force participation without raising the deficit.”
Warren intends to pay for her high-cost education proposals — which she estimates will cost $1.25 billion over the next decade — as well as a recent child care overhaul through the “ultramillionaire tax” she proposed https://t.co/Ovd86YY3Mu
— POLITICO (@politico) April 22, 2019
Warren noted that child care workers stand to gain under her proposal, which she envisions as uniting all existing child care and early learning programs to serve about 12 million children.
“The plan ensures parity by requiring that compensation (wages and benefits) for child care workers be comparable to those of similarly-credentialed local public school teachers, and invests in worker training and professional development modeled after the military child care program,” her position paper stated.
The bill was co-sponsored by Democratic Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico.
“Child care and early learning should not be a luxury that only people with money have access to, but right now that’s the status quo in this country. I know what it’s like to struggle to make ends meet as a parent — I cleaned at my daughters pre-school so she could have early learning opportunities — that’s not who we should be as a country,” Haaland said in the statement released Tuesday.
“If we’re going to get serious about ending the cycle of poverty in New Mexico and the entire country, we need to invest in universal child care and early learning.
“The bill Senator Warren and I are introducing today is a bold and comprehensive proposal to remove barriers so moms and dads can take those extra classes at the university or community college, or work to get that promotion without the burden of childcare on their shoulders while ensuring children have the care they need early in life.”
Of course, not everyone is on board with Warren’s proposals.
What gets misunderstood about Elizabeth Warren is she hasn’t “come up with” good policies, she’s come up with bad policies and bad ways of watering down good policies (means testing student debt cancellation, subsidies for a regulated, private and means tested child care system)
— Nathan Tankus (@NathanTankus) June 16, 2019
Senator Warren’s plans for free college and subsidized child care will be a huge help — to the wealthy https://t.co/ozwNapJOBE via @bopinion
— Rich Noyes (@RichNoyes) June 13, 2019
Warren is currently polling third in the crowded field for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to the most recent RealClearPolitics index of polls.
Averaging 11.6 percent support, she trails front-running former Vice President Joe Biden and second-place Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
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