|
The Senate recently passed a $3.5 trillion budget resolution, which lays the groundwork for the largest budget reconciliation in history. President Biden’s Build Back Better plan proposes $450 billion to establish child care and preschool programs through the reconciliation process. Investing in an equitable system that supports families, children, and essential workers who are caring for them is crucial to the economic recovery of our country.
Today, CLASP’s Alejandra Londono Gomez and Alycia Hardy released a fact sheet, Capping the Co-pay, detailing the impact of the proposal on the pockets of parents. The authors outline the out-of-pocket cost for families based on the sliding fee scale included in the Child Care for Working Families Act, which caps family’s co-payment at 7 percent of monthly income for families whose incomes are below 150 percent of the state median income.
This structure helps to alleviate the burden of care costs on parents and providers. By incorporating a sliding scale, parents in the lower income brackets—who are disproportionately people of color—would have more money available to meet other household needs. This bold proposal would have a tremendous, positive impact on families and the economy, especially since a family's monthly child care costs in some states often exceed the average monthly mortgage payment or annual cost of in-state college tuition.
For questions or further information, please contact Alejandra Londono Gomez at [email protected].
|
