For every $1 we invest in child care, it yields $4 in return.

Congress must take this issue seriously.

Earlier this week I attended a Congressional Hearing about our country’s investment (or lack thereof, really) in early childhood education. As a single parent, I was extremely frustrated with some of my colleagues' continued inability to take the issue of child care seriously.

The cost of child care has risen dramatically, outpacing other rising costs. Here in Orange County, the median price of child care for an infant is $20,866. You can check out costs for different types of care at different ages in your county using this interactive map.

The high sticker price isn’t the only problem. Many families are struggling to find safe, reliable child care. Day care centers have long and sometimes expensive wait lists. Parents who work outside of traditional hours have trouble finding care that works. It’s a massive problem that’s pushing parents out of the workforce, making life difficult for families, and costing our economy billions. 

Congress has been absent. While I led the push to include a real investment in childcare in the big pieces of legislation we passed in 2021 and 2022, and President Biden supported capping child care costs at 7% of a family’s income for many Americans, Congress didn’t get it done. Child care is always first on the chopping block, and still hasn’t made our priority list. 

Congressional Republicans are opposed to investing in child care because they claim it’s a “government takeover.” In this week’s hearing, Senator JD Vance cited stats that most married mothers would prefer to stay home with their kids, implying that their preference means we shouldn’t invest in child care. It’s a load of BS, and completely ignores the reality for many families. When conservatives block the government from investing in child care to give families "choice," they take away choice from single parents and low-income parents.

Republicans don’t want to invest in child care because it would mean taxing billionaires and ultra-profitable corporations, or siphoning funding from their defense industry friends.

In the hearing, Republicans also claimed that we shouldn’t invest in child care because it’s “spending other people’s money.” 

It’s true: Congress’ whole job is to spend other people’s money. Which is exactly why we should invest it in ways that make sense. Child care is a smart investment, plain and simple—and I have the math to prove it. 

Right now, we’re losing $122 billion annually in our economy because of unaffordable child care.

But for every $1 we invest in child care, it yields $4 in return. Investing in child care is smart economic policy and the only way we’ll have a strong and stable workforce. 

This issue has been put on the back burner for too long. That’s in part because Congress, where the median age in the Senate is 65 and just 28% of Congresspeople are women, does not look like our country. Too many of my colleagues are men who have never had to worry about affording quality child care. Their kids are now grown, and when their kids were young, they had a wife (and yes I say wife, because most Members are heterosexual men), who stayed home with the kids. With a Congress that skews so wealthy, this is an issue too few in Congress understand.

As Senator Vance talked about the preferences of married couples, I reminded the room—there are nearly 10 million single parents in this country. But there’s only one of us in Congress. That’s why I’m going to use my remaining months in office to do everything I can to fight for affordable child care.

Thanks for following along,

Katie