Child care wasn’t prioritized in the first infrastructure package. It’s ‘cause for alarm,’ experts say.

Connecting the Dots – #YesThisIsAnArtsStory Repost from The Lily

Caroline Kitchener | 9 April 2021

Throughout the 2020 campaign, Joe Biden made big promises to women and families.

He would bail out day-care centers. He would introduce mandatory paid family leave. He would make child care more accessible and affordable — so that the millions of women forced out of their jobs in the pandemic could get back to work.

While the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, passed on March 11, included some revolutionary provisions for families, they are temporary, meant to keep families afloat until they can put the coronavirus behind them. Many parents have been eagerly anticipating President Biden’s infrastructure bill, a landmark piece of legislation expected to include sweeping benefits for caregivers and fundamentally reshape the U.S. child-care system.

But the Biden administration announced last week that child care and caregiving will not be part of the initial $2 trillion jobs and infrastructure package, which focuses largely on male-dominated industries such as construction and manufacturing. Instead, those issues will be tackled in a second, family-focused proposal, the details of which are expected to be announced later this month.

The delay is “cause for alarm,” said C. Nicole Mason, president and chief executive at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a gender-focused think tank.

Advocates say by putting child care on the back burner, even briefly, Biden is sending a message about his priorities, suggesting that the needs of women and families are less pressing than other items on the administration’s agenda. The delay could mean less money for the caregiving portion of the bill, they say. If Biden and the Democrats expend all their political capital on the first portion, persuading Congress to approve an already high price tag, they may struggle to push through ambitious policies on child care.

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Child care wasn’t prioritized in the first infrastructure package. It’s ‘cause for alarm,’ experts say.

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Child care wasn’t prioritized in the first infrastructure package. It’s ‘cause for alarm,’ experts say.

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