Biden takes aim at child care costs, availability with new executive order
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is taking aim at rising child care and caregiving costs – and its scarce availability – with executive action Tuesday that looks to deliver on a campaign promise that has failed in Congress.
The White House billed the order as the most comprehensive ever taken by a president to expand care and lower costs. It includes directing federal agencies to identify grant programs to support child care and long-term care for individuals who are working on federal projects.
"No one should have to choose between caring for the parents who raised him, the children who depend on them, and the paycheck they rely on," Biden said before signing the order during a Rose Garden ceremony.
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The moves give Biden a child-care framework that he can tout before a widely expected 2024 reelection announcement.
Yet the directives, 50 in all, fall significantly short of Biden's original $276 billion subsidized child care plan, and an additional $150 billion for senior and disabled caregiving, which were part of his Build Back Better domestic agenda that stalled in Congress during Biden's first two years in office.
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What do Biden's actions on care do?
HHS to look at co-payments: Biden is directing the Department of Health and Human Services to consider actions to reduce or eliminate families’ co-payments for child care.
Veterans access: The order directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to improve access to home-based care for veterans who need at-home support for their daily activities such as bathing and feeding themselves.
Subsidies under review: The order directs the federal government to conduct a review of child care subsidy policy and consider setting standards for when and how federal agencies should provide child care subsidies to federal employees.
Care at military bases: Biden has directed the Defense Department to take steps to improve the affordability of child care on military installations.
Pay boost: The action also looks to boost pay for child-care workers, who typically earn less than $18 an hour in the U.S. The action requires HHS to implement polices for more child care providers to benefit from federal Child Care and Development Block Grant funding. HHS will also take steps to increase pay for teachers and staff in Head Start programs.
Home-care funding: HHS will also create new rules to make Medicaid payments for home-care services "more transparent" and ensure a greater share of Medicaid funding reaches home-based workers.
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Why is Biden taking action now?
The cost of child care has soared more than 26% over the past decade, according to the White House, and more than 200% over the past 30 years. The cost of home caregiving for seniors and the disabled has gone up 40% in the last 10 years.
A growing demand for care services is going largely unfilled, preventing many parents, particularly women, from entering the workforce. As a result, the U.S. is projected to lose about $290 billion annually in gross domestic product annually beyond 2030 if action isn't taken, according to a study from Boston Consulting Group.
“This will make a real difference for families," Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. "But make no mistake: we need bold congressional action to make child care affordable and accessible in every part of this country."
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Biden pared down his Build Build Back plan last year by removing his caregiving and child care proposals to win approval for a more modest domestic agenda in the evenly divided Senate.
With Republicans controlling the House, subsidized child care has virtually no chance of passage before 2024. Yet through his new executive order, Biden can at least claim he's done what he can to make headway on a top progressive priority.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden takes executive action on child care costs, availability