The White House and Ivanka Trump propose new child care expenses: NPR

In the midst of a controversial presidential budget proposal due to drastic cuts in spending expectations, White House senior advisor and eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, wants to discuss the need to increase the availability and availability of women. Affordability of childcare services.

NPR has learned that the 2020 White House budget, to be released on Monday, will require increased spending on child care and a new initiative to address shortages.

Presidential budgets are declarations of principle, often ignored by Congress, and this one is no different (it has already been declared "non-starter" by the Democrats). So, in a way, it is Ivanka Trump and the White House who wish to express their interest in a debate already taking place in the business world and in politics on this "growing challenge".

"You have caregivers who work below the minimum wage, you have parents who can not pay for care and you do not have a robust ecosystem because it's a low-powered business. margin with great responsibility, "said Ivanka Trump on the sidelines of a discussion she recently conducted at the White House with more than a dozen people specializing in child care. "So, it's like a fundamentally flawed system."

NPR was invited to the West Wing listening session at the end of February and was briefed very early on Ivanka Trump's proposal regarding the day care facilities in the president's 2020 budget.

One-time investment

The centerpiece is a one-time, one-billion dollar investment proposed to increase the supply of childcare services to under-served populations. States would apply for funding and could use it to encourage employers, large and small, to invest in child care or to support child care providers who operate at non-traditional hours or at school. 39, addressing parents enrolled in the school.

"We want to encourage innovation," Trump said. "We want to encourage the private sector to mobilize."

To obtain this money, states should "set targets to reduce unnecessary regulatory or other requirements limiting the supply or increasing the cost of child care services". A White House aide stated that this was not intended to lower the regulation of the child / caregiver ratio, but rather to remove the zoning requirements in some areas that prohibit child care in residential neighborhoods, for example.

This program would be implemented as part of the Comprehensive Grant Program for Child Protection and Early Childhood Development (CCDBG), whose funds have been significantly increased over the past two years by the Congress, which finally signed expense invoices signed by President Trump. A White House official, who refused to speak officially because the budget is not yet public, said the president's budget proposal for 2020 planned to spend $ 5.3 billion on the program, is the same level as Congress set aside in 2019, and a sharp increase over the previous year. what the past budgets of the Trump administration have asked for. The $ 1 billion one-time fund would add to that.

Ivanka Trump said it was essential to "continue to ensure that programs are adequately funded", while advocating for the increase in child tax credit provided for in the tax law adopted by the GOP at the end of 2017.

Trump praised researchers, child care providers, and business group representatives from Roosevelt Hall before coming to the table to ask questions about challenges and solicit solutions ideas. It sometimes intervenes to amplify the point of view of someone or to ask questions.

Here are some of the challenges that Trump and the experts she met were identified during the White House meeting: the early years are essential to brain development, but it is often difficult to find childcare services. quality, safe and affordable. There are long waiting lists for care that for many families is more expensive than housing. And yet, many babysitters can not make ends meet.

While Trump spoke of the challenges ahead, she phrased it in a way that Democrats have for years, not as a "mother problem" or a "family problem", but as an obstacle to growth. economic.

Economic tension

Chad Dunkley, CEO of New Horizon Academy, a child care provider, attended the session and pleaded for increased funding for child care services at Capitol Hill. .

"I think there is a growing bipartisan consensus that we need to do more to strengthen the financial security of young families in this country," Dunkley said. "They must have the certainty to be able to raise their families here, and if they do not, our economy will be in trouble."

This economic tension is already evident in low birth rates and slowing labor force participation, Dunkley said.

The White House was asked about the funding levels proposed in the 2020 budget for Head Start, another major program for early childhood, but this information was not provided.

President Trump has included childcare in his 2016 campaign and, as his re-election efforts have proliferated, the White House has focused on selling the idea that the child will be in business. he had kept his campaign promises. That said, this new proposal is not very close to the Trump campaign.

Campaign number for Democrats

Child protection is already a problem of the 2020 campaign, with Democratic candidates, including Elizabeth Warren, deploying child protection plans for all.

"What you earn at work should not determine the quality of care your child receives.This is why, for millions of families who need it, access to these childcare options. Kids will be free, "Warren said in a video announcing his plan.

In Congress, Democrats, both in the House and in the Senate, introduce child care bills designed to stimulate the growth of child care, cover the costs for families who do not how to access it and pay a living wage to the providers. The prices of these plans cost tens of billions of dollars every year, well beyond the White House proposal.

The White House official said those Democratic plans would cost "unsustainable dollar amounts of taxpayers," adding that Ivanka Trump sees her role as "a champion of producing laws that are sustainable."

When asked if she could work with Ivanka Trump on childcare, Senator Patty Murray of Washington State, a prominent Democrat on the issue, was polite.

"I'm delighted that more and more people are learning about the barrier of child care for working families to realize their economic dreams and take care of their families," said Murray. "We accept all ideas, but they must be real."

There is a lot of agreement on the problems but not yet on the solutions. Asked about members of Congress that the Trump administration had solicited, the White House official simply stated that Ivanka Trump was eager to work with lawmakers on both sides of the door.