Democrats believe they are close to passing one of the most important bills of President Joe Biden’s administration, which they say will reduce the high costs caused by inflation. But one important provision that was a high priority for Connecticut was stripped as the party needed to cut the legislation: child care funding.
Child care was included in an early version of the party’s economic agenda and was pushed heavily by lawmakers in the state’s congressional delegation. Biden visited Hartford last October to tour a child care center and specifically promote those parts of his bill. Connecticut’s two US senators and five members of the House joined him in the visit.
But the pushback from a pair of senators in the party made it inevitable that some of the Democrats’ top priorities would be stripped from what was once known as the “Rebuild Better Act.” Because the party is using a special process known as budget reconciliation to advance the bill with fewer voters and no support from Republicans, passage depends on the support of Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.V. and Senator Kyrsten Sinema. , D-Ariz.
Connecticut advocates warn more needs to be done for an industry where high daycare enrollment prices are the norm and facilities still face staffing shortages caused in part by low wages. They are frustrated by the lack of action from Congress, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated an already fragile system.
Many of them viewed the reconciliation process as the only vehicle for substantial early education aid at the federal level, especially with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate at stake in November’s midterm elections . In addition to nearly $400 billion in child care and daycare funding, Biden’s plan at one point also included a national paid family leave program and an extension of the tax credit for improved children created under the Democrats’ pandemic relief package.
Now, activists are wondering when key investments will come from Washington.
For a bill now called the “Inflation Reduction Act,” “we’re not dealing with the biggest expense for families in addition to housing,” said Merrill Gay, executive director of the Alliance for in Connecticut’s early childhood. “The normal order of business has never produced and is unlikely to produce the kind of changes needed for child care.”
“We’re still so conflicted about the role of women and what the ideal child-rearing set-up is, that we give meager childcare allowances to single mothers and leave everyone to fend for themselves.” Gay added.
The Democrats’ legislation has undergone a dramatic makeover over the past year and a half.
Initially $3.5 trillion, Biden’s national economic agenda was cut in half by the end of 2021. The bill was poised to be even smaller, focusing only on prescription drug prices and on Affordable Care Act subsidies just a month ago, but Democrats suddenly struck a deal with Manchin to address tax policy and climate change. The revival was a big win for the party, even though they announced it without getting Sinema’s support. But he announced Thursday night that he will stand behind the bill.
But that left early childhood advocates disappointed, especially since many in Connecticut have been especially vocal in recent years. They have been trying to shine a spotlight on a long-standing industry that was made more difficult during the pandemic with families navigating facility closures and programs to combat staff shortages. And during this time, more women were leaving the workforce to care for their children without being able to pay for them.
According to one analysis of the First Five Years Fundthe number of Connecticut mothers with children under 5 who work decreased from 73.2% in 2019 to 71.1% in 2021. Additionally, 44% of residents live in a “child care desert,” and this percentage increases for Latino incomes and families.
Since the start of the pandemic, several early childhood groups in the state have held a weekly Zoom meeting on Monday mornings with several hundred providers expected to attend. Liz Fraser, who serves as director of policy for the Connecticut Association of Human Services, said Beth Bye, the commissioner of the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, joined one to ask providers for suggestions on how to spend the first tranche of American funding. Rescue Plan Law.
And in March, a coalition of organizations held a Morning Without Childcare rally where centers stayed open late to highlight the challenges they face and rally for $700 million in funding, though they got some of this request from the state legislature.
Advocates say every member of the state’s congressional delegation has been closely involved in their efforts and took their frustrations out on Manchin and Sinema for pushing a much smaller bill.
With the Senate split 50-50, bills typically need to reach 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, which means some cooperation from Republicans. But with the reconciliation process, legislation can eliminate filibusters with just a simple majority. For Democrats, that means getting all 50 Democrats on board and having Vice President Kamala Harris on hand to break any ties.
No Republican in either house of Congress supports the legislation. They opposed larger versions of the bill and now argue that the latest — and smaller — iteration will barely reduce or even add to inflation. Democrats promise that no one making less than $400,000 will see a tax increase, but Republicans counter that some in that bracket will pay more in taxes, citing a report by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.
For his part, Manchin only wanted measures in the bill that would specifically reduce inflation as well as the federal deficit. And Sinema eventually came on board once there was an agreement to remove the interest tax provision from the bill.
The Senate plans to hold a marathon session over the weekend to vote on the amendments. Members may be able to propose some to restore funding for paid vacation, the child tax credit, or child care programs. That will largely depend on Manchin, though any Democrat who opposes it would sink an amendment.
“I understand there’s always frustration that we can’t do more,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. But he defended his party’s ability to move major legislation in a 50-50 Senate, which he called “pretty impressive.”
“The downside of setting the sights so high and so publicly is that attention often turns to what wasn’t on the bill rather than what was,” he added.
Both Murphy and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, had signed a letter from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, asking Democrats to insert at least some investments in child care into the reconciliation bill. His plan would triple the federal grant for child care and development, raise wages for providers and pilot a new program for six years. But this effort did not materialize.
“I am outraged that the likely proposal does not have a specific program to maintain child care,” Blumenthal said. “I remain a supporter of the Inflation Reduction Act, as deeply disappointed as I am by the lack of a specific child care program.”
If the legislation passes the Senate, the House will take it up before going to Biden’s desk. The House already passed a $1.75 trillion version of the Build Back Better legislation last November, but Manchin torpedoed that bill a month later when he said he could not support it in its current form .
As a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, participated in labeling the child care and pre-K portions of the bill. The House version of Build Back Better would, among other things, limit care costs to 7 percent of a family’s income and increase compensation for child care workers.
“Centers don’t have enough funds to hire people at a reasonable price to compete with McDonald’s and Amazon,” Courtney said. “Like health care, problems have their cycles, and this one doesn’t go away.”
Activists are looking to the state for better solutions, though they acknowledge that federal funding would be more helpful. Connecticut and other states received some funding for child care through a number of pandemic rescue packages, including the American Rescue Plan Act that was passed last March. Analysis of the First Five Years Fund found that 43,452 “childcare places were saved thanks to ARPA funds”. During the pandemic, the state received about $346 million in funding through this bill and other revenue sources.
Like other states, Connecticut faces a double whammy with its child care system: high costs for families to participate and a shortage of workers that keeps centers from operating at capacity and with waiting lists. just wait.
According to an April survey of more than 200 state providers by the Connecticut Association of Human Services, a quarter of child care capacity is not available because there are not enough workers. More than 24,000 child care spaces in Connecticut are estimated to be “out of service due to understaffing.”
And even though monthly payments for the expanded child tax credit weren’t extended until 2022, Connecticut had its own state credit available. More than 70% of eligible households claimed the $250 tax credit per child before the July 31 deadline.
In addition to some financial assistance through ARPA, Connecticut will get a little more through the annual appropriations process to fund the government. Only half of the 12 bills have passed the House and have yet to go to the Senate, but Connecticut lawmakers have so far secured earmarks for projects in their districts, with some going to care centers kindergarten, including one for the Courtney district it will replace. a daycare building in Groton.
“If we want our economy to be stable, we need to make sure parents have a safe place to send their kids that costs them a reasonable amount,” Fraser said.