Ross: Child care is holding up the vote on the Build Back Better Bill
Oct 1, 2021, 7:22 AM | Updated: 9:17 am
Still no vote on the Big Build Back Better Bill 鈥� and a major reason for the hold-up is child care.
Republicans correctly point out that Democrats are using this bill to get programs they鈥檝e wanted for a long time 鈥� and that includes child care for every family that wants it, with a sliding scale of payments so that no middle-class family pays more than 7% of their income.
And bill doesn鈥檛 stop there: It promises that the workers who provide this child care will not just be part-timers doing it on the side 鈥� they鈥檒l be professionals who are paid a living wage.
The program is intended to bail out a child care industry decimated by COVID.
And no question 鈥� it costs a LOT! According to a column in Forbes, written by Emily Bauer, who describes herself as a numbers nerd, the cost of infant care at the 鈥渉igh quality鈥� centers under this program, would be close to $32,000 a year in some urban areas. Right now, programs for impoverished families pay less than HALF that for child care.
Biden鈥檚 program would actually make this 鈥渉igh quality鈥� child care free to poor families, and subsidize it for the rest 鈥� a benefit that the column calls 鈥渁bsurdly expensive.鈥�
And yet, it seems to me that with Texas and other states passing laws to show how much they care about children, maybe they鈥檙e starting to think kids are worth that kind of money.
I say we find out 鈥� which means parents have to speak up.
The polling shows this is one of the most popular parts of the bill, but if the polls are wrong 鈥� which has happened 鈥� call your member of Congress and tell them. And if they don鈥檛 listen, organize a Million Parent March on the National Mall to demand that the government NOT tax wealthy people to pay for your child care.
Congress is desperate for programs to cut 鈥� and as I鈥檝e said many times before, it would save the country a lot of aggravation if people who don鈥檛 want programs intended to benefit them had the decency to step up and say so.
Then Congress can strip it from this bill and we鈥檒l finally get our highways.
