Democrats, get to work lifting families with bipartisan fixes to childcare

Victorious Democrats, rightly fearing the American family’s demise, must now deliver, from affordable day care and housing to heftier tax benefits. But what to do? How can they unite centrist Democrats and more left-leaning progressives to buoy parents and make child-rearing feasible once again?

Democratic candidates floated a variety of affordability fixes on the campaign trail. Now the real work begins, ideally in bipartisan fashion. Democratic leaders might even hold their noses and give Vice President JD Vance a call.

The progressive left pushes Scandinavian-style entitlements like free childcare, the marquee initiative pressed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He insists that the government must finance additional caregivers outside the home — starting when babies turn just six weeks old — so mom and dad can pursue careers or merely keep food on the table.

But it turns out that most parents prefer staying home after a newborn arrives, favoring paid family leave rather than stashing toddlers in daycare, as a survey of American families revealed last month. In addition, entitlements come with a huge price tag, projected at $9 billion in New York — while subsidizing affluent parents , along with employers who reap freed-up labor, letting taxpayers foot the childcare bill.

Vance arrives from a different angle, pressing a basic question that every parent asks: How can I spend more time with my young child, while earning enough to sustain my family? Then he stumbles, taking social engineering to a whole new level. Vance wants to capture federal aid currently helping employed lower-income parents pay for childcare, sending these dollars to well-off families — if one parent agrees to stay at home . The vice president would impose his own rendition of family onto all Americans.

Still, leading Democrats see the underlying policy quandary, which is whether the government should help parents better nurture kids at home, rather than only funding more childcare and pre-K outside the household.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), the vocal House member from Silicon Valley, has proposed $100 billion in new childcare spending each year, a package that would be “value neutral between staying at home, going to a childcare center, or having friends or family” provide daycare. This is consistent with the past half-century of detailing how parents contribute far more to a child’s early growth, or developmental delays, than do caregivers outside the home.

Another strategy could unite Democrats and newly minted moderate Republicans: Simplify the four tax credits and two federal programs that already finance childcare and preschools across the land. That is, make childcare affordable for more families by simplifying programs, rather than adding duplicative initiatives.

You may recall President Joe Biden’s expanded child tax credit , awarding families $3,600 for each child under 5 in 2021, a short-lived reform enjoyed by millions of middle-class families, while slicing the nation’s child poverty rate by half .

Vance pledged in 2024 to boost the Biden credit to $5,000 per child — a promise he has yet to keep. The vice president will certainly revive such pro-family ideas, remaking himself as kinder and gentler, tiptoeing toward the political center. And Vance remains relevant in moving bipartisan reforms through the White House.

Consolidating existing pro-family programs could win bipartisan appeal. On top of the child tax credit, Washington awards another three tax benefits — going to parents and employers — which help offset childcare expenses. This maze of programs costs the treasury about $201 billion annually in tax spending. It’s so confusing that just 1 in 7 parents even file for the child and dependent care credit.

Beyond funding thousands of Head Start preschools, the feds send a childcare block grant to the states, distributed to families as portable vouchers, allowing parents to pay grandma, even boyfriends in California, for their caregiving.

On top of this bevy of initiatives, 14 states and Washington, D.C. finance paid family leave for parents after a newborn arrives, commonly supported through payroll taxes that balance contributions from workers and employers.

Democratic socialists might recognize that their Scandinavian comrades embrace family leave as heartily as childcare. Parents in Norway benefit from 12 months of paid leave, split evenly between both parents. Finland offers a home allowance for stay-at-home parents — often fathers — until their youngster turns three years old, valuing the child’s robust growth over a parent’s quick return to work.

Ensuring the vibrant growth of young children is central to any society. Democrats can advance this essential project by simplifying access to myriad programs and investing in those that truly lift families. This blossoming of family supports just might spring from bipartisan soil, nourishing a newly productive Congress.

Bruce Fuller is an education and policy professor at Berkeley School of Education and the author of “Debating Childhood and Preschool.”