With kids out of school, families face tough choices.

We must do more to address the child care crisis.

Katie Porter

Dec 22

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Happy Holidays! I hope you’re getting to enjoy some rest or time with loved ones this week. I’ve been able to craft and bake with my daughter, and it’s been a lovely break from the chaos of Congress.

But I realize this is a privilege. For a lot of families struggling with affording or finding child care, kids being home from school is a major stressor.

This piece in the LA Times lays out the struggle of managing work and child care over the holiday break. It points out that while the pandemic brought more flexibility to some white-collar jobs, that’s not the reality for hourly-wage workers in retail or service sectors. And it’s contributing to the gap between those with resources and those without.

As a single mom of three, I understand how challenging finding child care can be. And it’s only getting worse. Even a decade ago, when my daughter Betsy was in preschool, her tuition at UC Irvine preschool (where I taught) cost more than a year of university tuition. That’s a broken market.

Unfortunately, child care funding is often first on Congress’ chopping board. While child care providers here in California may be unionized, there’s no ultra-powerful group lobbying on behalf of affordable child care nationwide. (And I’m not even talking about a Big Pharma-level lobbying scheme for child care. The environment, for example, has groups like the League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resource Defense Council advocating on its behalf. Child care REALLY gets put on the back burner.)

For families struggling to afford both food and extra child care this holiday season, I see the solution as two-pronged:

One, we have to unrig our economy so that workers earn more, have better workplace protections, and can afford necessities like housing and groceries. That means upping the minimum wage, making serious investments in affordable housing, and lowering healthcare costs—all things that would give families more breathing room, allowing a parent to take a few days off work and still make rent.

And two, we have to tackle the high cost of child care head on. Child care costs have way outpaced inflation, and provider shortages have led to even higher prices. One of the first bills I introduced was the Family Savings for Kids and Seniors Act, which would double the amount of money families can set aside pre-tax to pay for preschool, child care, or adult care. I also fought relentlessly to cap child care costs at 7% of a family’s income as part of the major pieces of legislation Democrats passed last Congress when we controlled the House, Senate, and White House. The 7% cap didn’t make it into law, but I plan to push for it in the U.S. Senate.

Families should be able to enjoy the holidays with their kids, not dread a day off because they can’t afford or find child care. I’ll keep fighting to lower costs and expand access to care for everyone.

Onward,

Katie Porter

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