Harris wants to limit child care costs to 7% of family income

Two weeks after former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance raised eyebrows when answering how they’d make child care more affordable, Vice President Kamala Harris was asked how she’d address the problem vexing millions of American families.

Two weeks after former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance raised eyebrows when answering how they’d make child care more affordable, Vice President Kamala Harris was asked how she’d address the problem vexing millions of American families. Harris responded that she’d cap child care costs at 7% of working families’ income, following the Biden administration playbook that she was heavily involved in writing. But she didn’t provide details on how she’d achieve that goal or how she’d pay for the pricey measure. “My plan is that no family, no working family, should pay more than 7% of their household income in child care,” Harris said Tuesday at a National Association of Black Journalists event, noting that steep child care expenses make it difficult for many parents to work. The 7% threshold was an early objective of the Biden administration. President Joe Biden’s ambitious – and ultimately unsuccessful – Build Back Better package in 2021 called for limiting child care costs for families with children younger than age 6 to no more than 7% of income for those earning up to 250% of state median income, expanding access to about 20 million children. Funding would have lasted six years. The provision, along with a universal pre-K measure, would have cost an estimated $382 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Stymied by Congress on a broader effort, the administration issued a rule earlier this year that instituted a 7% cap for low-income families receiving federal child care subsidies. It will reduce costs for about 100,000 children, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.