Child Care – Chamber of Mothers

Message to voters to understand the scope of the problem:

We now know that 40% of parents in the U.S. have gone into debt just to pay for child care and almost 3 in 10 parents have had to choose between paying for childcare or paying their rent or mortgage on time. The astronomical costs of child care is forcing parents in your community into a financial hole that is nearly impossible to climb out of and drastically limiting families’ economic potential. (Source)
Parents with reliable, quality care miss fewer work days, are more productive, and are better able to provide for their families. The U.S. economy loses an estimated $122 billion annually due to parents missing work, lost productivity and lost revenue related to child care issues. (Source)
Just like the foundation of a house, children’s brains are built from the ground up – studies prove that the vast majority of brain development happens in the first three years of life. Building a strong foundation when they’re young is critically important. Just like with a house, if someone has to go back and fix the foundation, it is more costly and problematic. It’s the same way with children. (Source)
Investing in child care improves society for everyone, just as investing in roads, schools, and other infrastructure. Scientific research shows that children who have high quality early learning do better in school, have fewer mental health problems, are less likely to do drugs, and are less likely to experience teen pregnancy, drop out of school, or commit crimes. (Source)

Trump: The Trump Administration proposed relief to families through changes to the tax code, including increasing the child tax credit benefit from $1000 to $2000 per child for families making up to $400,000. In 2016 his campaign also included other tax changes, including allowing higher income families to deduct certain child care expenses from their taxes and invest more in tax-free savings options for children. In addition to tax changes, the Trump Administration proposed to maintain funding for Child Care and Head Start, at a time when his Administration was proposing significant cuts or eliminations to other programs.

Biden: The Biden-Harris Administration has proposed in each of its three Budgets a plan to provide affordable, high-quality child care and universal preschool. The Administration worked with Congress on legislation that would have capped child care costs at 7% of the families income and extended public school to age three through a mix of community- or school-based providers. Just like the legislation, the Biden proposal gives parents the option to pick a child care or preschool provider that meets the unique needs of the family, builds the supply of providers, and recognizes the invaluable contributions of the early childhood educators. The Biden-Harris Administration’s plan would pay for itself. In addition to the large-scale plan, the Administration has requested annual increases to the Child Care subsidy program and Head Start, two programs aimed at helping low income families with care. The 2024 Biden campaign has pledged to ‘finish the job’ if reelected.

Maternal Health

The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate of any high-income country and it has more than doubled over the past two decades. More than 80 percent of these deaths are preventable, according to the CDC.
Though significant disparities exist for women of color, with Black and Indigenous women dying at rates of 2 to 3 times that of white women, American women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds are impacted by this crisis.
The maternal health crisis affects mothers in all states, and in settings from urban to rural, particularly in areas with increasing maternity unit closures and decreased access to care. Rates of maternal mortality have nearly tripled in the past 20 years in the South and nearly quintupled in the Midwest. Additionally, over 2 million women of childbearing age and 130,000 babies live in maternity care deserts.
The Dobbs decision has heightened this crisis. Between 2018 and 2022, overall death rates for women of reproductive age (15–44) in abortion-restriction states were 34 percent higher than in abortion-access states.
A survey found 64% of OB-GYNs believe the overturning of Roe v. Wade has worsened pregnancy mortality, 70% believe it’s worsened racial and ethnic inequities, and 56% believe it’s worsened the ability to attract new doctors to the field.

Trump: President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act into law in 2018. This gave $50 million in grants to states so they could develop maternal mortality review committees and better understand maternal health complications and identify solutions to prevent them. In 2019, the Trump Administration implemented a rule change that prohibited health care providers who receive Title X Family Planning funding from mentioning abortion care as an option to patients, providing an abortion referral, or offering abortion care services. Additionally, the Trump Administration eliminated the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that all employers provide birth control coverage and allowed a range of employers with religious or moral objections to stop offering free birth control through their health insurance plans.

Biden: In 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration issued their Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis to combat maternal mortality and morbidity. In 2024, the Administration invested $105 million in funding to support community-based organizations working to improve maternal and infant health, and released a national strategy to address the maternal mental health crisis, based on recommendations developed by the Task Force on Maternal Mental Health, a subcommittee of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Advisory Committee for Women’s Services. Additionally, President Biden signed an executive order that included 20 new actions and commitments by several federal agencies for research on women’s health issues that emerge at all life stages, from maternal health outcomes to menopause and autoimmune diseases.

Paid Family and Medical Leave

The U.S. is the only industrialized nation with zero paid maternity leave.
Only 27 percent of the workforce has paid family leave through their employers, and just 41 percent has personal medical leave through an employer-provided short-term disability program.
Without paid leave and to avoid lost income, many mothers return to work before healing from birth. In fact, 1 in 4 women will return to work within 2 weeks of giving birth. This results in 55% feeling depressed and 71% feeling anxious for several days/more often.

Working families lose an estimated $22.6 billion in wages each year due to a lack of access to paid family and medical leave. Additionally, workers 50 or older who leave the workforce to care for a parent lose more than $300,000 in wages and retirement on average – and, for women, losses are even greater.
New mothers who take paid leave are more likely than those who take no paid leave to stay in the workforce and 54 percent more likely to report wage increases. Paid leave also contributes to reduced turnover and increased employee engagement and loyalty, leading to significant employer cost savings.
The United States would add $775 billion to its GDP per year if women participated in the labor force at rates similar to those in comparable countries with more robust work family policies.

Trump: In 2019, President Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which included the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA), a bill that granted federal employees up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave. In his 2020 State of the Union address, President Trump expressed support for the Advancing Support for Working Families Act, a paid leave bill that would allow parents caring for newborns or newly adopted children to utilize a portion of their future Child Tax Credit up to $5,000 to care for the child.

Biden: President Biden has long been an advocate for a national paid family and medical leave program. His 2025 Budget Proposal includes a program that would provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave to eligible workers to care for a new child or ill loved one, recover from serious medical events, address the effects of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, and make arrangements arising from the military deployment of a spouse, child or parent. President Biden’s 2024 Budget Proposal included a similar paid leave program. In 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration improved access to leave by directing Federal agencies to provide unpaid leave to Federal employees when they need it, including during their first year of service. They also expanded the Military Parental Leave Program so that active-duty service members would be eligible for 12 weeks of parental leave following the birth, adoption, or placement of a child for long-term foster care. The expansion also allows for both parents to take leave while balancing the needs of their unit.