Biden using state data to sell his families plan
Child care fact sheets part of national push
WASHINGTON – Only 18% of Missouri’s 3- and 4-year olds are enrolled in publicly funded preschool, the lowest share in the nation.
The average cost of putting an infant in a child care center in California eats up an average 18% of household income.
And an expanded tax credit for children that President Joe Biden has included in a proposed package of education and safety net programs for families would reduce by more than half the child poverty in Alaska and Oklahoma and by 45% in Arizona.
Those are some of the statistics in state-specific fact sheets, provided first to USA TODAY, that the administration will use to pitch its trillion-dollar plan focused on child care and education both nationally and to governors, mayors, county leaders and local groups. The Biden administration is looking to shore up support across the country for its families plan, which is expected to face a steep climb in Congress as Republicans decry it as excess government spending.
The White House saw some success in a similar effort earlier this year, when it directly pitched the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package to Americans before passing it without Republican support.
The American Families Plan, as the White House calls it, is the companion to a $2.3 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan also aimed at making major investments that Democrats argue are long
overdue. The $1.8 trillion package of spending increases and tax breaks would be offset by tax increases on the wealthiest households.
The U.S. ranks among the lowest among the wealthiest nations that offer child care benefits and paid leave benefits, which also contributes to one of the worst child poverty rates among developed nations. The coronavirus pandemic laid bare the gaps in child care as millions of women were forced to leave their jobs and shoulder the burden at home.
But an expansion of social welfare programs is likely to be a tougher sell in the narrowly divided Congress than Biden’s plan to increase funding for roads, broadband and water projects – areas of spending that have enjoyed more bipartisan support.
The tax increases Biden has proposed to pay for both packages are also a
nonstarter for Republicans.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., predicted Monday that no Republican would support the combination of plans.
“One hundred percent of my focus is on stopping this new administration,” McConnell said Wednesday.
Biden and other top administration officials are traveling around the country, hitting the airways and dialing up lawmakers to push the package.
“This will grow the economy,” Biden said Monday during a visit to a community college in Virginia. “Everybody will be better off.”
Beyond child care, Biden wants all 3- and 4-year-olds to have access to free, high-quality prekindergarten, regardless of family income.
But the White House expects states to pick up some of the cost – 10% initially and 50% eventually.