The Biden Administration announced its newest attempt to fix childcare with proposals that aim to cap eligible families’ childcare payments at 7% of their income and eliminate co-payments altogether for particularly poor families
The idea is to use a preexisting childcare reimbursement program known as the CCDBG to get more money to those who need it and try to root out some of the inefficiencies. That grant currently reaches about 1.5 million families. HHS estimates the average amount families who benefited from the block grant paid after the subsidy rose nearly 20% between 2005 and 2021.
“Let’s take a family in Montana making $46,000 a year,” said Vice President Kamala Harris, in announcing the plan. “They could save about $80 every month, or almost $1,000 a year. That money could go to gas and groceries or to fix a leak in their roof.” The Administration believes that capping childcare co-payments at 7% of income would allow nearly 80,000 families to lower their childcare bills.
The Administration also seeks to encourage those states using the CCDBG—which, as an administration official pointed out, is every state—to make the process of getting the money to childcare centers go more smoothly. For a lot of childcare providers, which are typically small businesses, enrolling CCDBG-eligible families requires an onerous amount of extra work.
The Administration wants states to pay the childcare centers for placements at the beginning of the month, to pay the centers for the children that are enrolled rather those who actually attend every day, and to allow families to apply online for the grants. In this way it hopes to stabilize what has been a notoriously rocky industry.
Close observers might note that the proposals are similar to, although less ambitious than, those that were left on the cutting-room floor when thepassed. “You will recall that the President and I have been talking about that 7% for two and a half years, and the importance of bringing down the cost of childcare for working families in America,” noted Harris.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
China tech/Ant: Beijing tries to fix sector it should not have broken\n\t\t\tLet our global subject matter experts broaden your perspective with timely insights and opinions you\n\t\t\tcan’t find anywhere else.\n\t\t
Read more »
Baseball tries to beat the clock to appeal to younger fans\n\t\t\tLet our global subject matter experts broaden your perspective with timely insights and opinions you\n\t\t\tcan’t find anywhere else.\n\t\t
Read more »
Primary school put on LOCKDOWN after ‘armed stranger tries to break in’A PRIMARY school was put into lockdown after reports an armed stranger tried to break in. Police were called to Wroughton Junior School in Swindon this morning after concerns were raised. Lessons w…
Read more »
Man 'pretending to look for dog' grabs woman and tries to drag her into bushesMan 'pretending to look for dog' grabs woman in park and tries to drag her into bushes
Read more »
Huge Nottingham building contractor enters administrationIt is behind a number of major projects across the city
Read more »
US senator calls for probe into KSI and Logan Paul Prime energy drinkThere are claims that the PRIME energy drinks are being advertised to kids despite containing large amounts of caffeine
Read more »