July 17, 2025

Duckworth, Durbin Help Reintroduce Bill to Help Families Get the Affordable Child Care They Need

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), U.S. Representative Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA-03) and their colleagues in reintroducing the Child Care for Working Families Act, comprehensive legislation to ensure families across America can find and afford the high-quality child care they need.

“For most working parents, affordable child care isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity,” said Duckworth. “Donald Trump ran on a promise to lower costs for working families—and yet, he and Republicans are prioritizing tax breaks to their billionaire donors, leaving families to fend for themselves. If Republicans really cared about lowering costs and supporting middle-class families, they’d help us pass this legislation to help solve our child care shortage and make quality, affordable care more accessible to every family who needs it.”

“Working families in Illinois deserve high-quality, affordable, and reliable child care, but this necessity has become an out-of-reach luxury. While the cost of care continues to rise, President Trump has held up critical government funding and dished out tax breaks for billionaires rather than address the child care crisis,” said Durbin. “It’s time working families had better options. Under the Child Care for Working Families Act, parents would have better access to affordable child care, including pre-kindergarten programs, and caregivers would earn the living wages they deserve.”

As President Trump and Republicans in Congress choose to spend trillions on new tax cuts for billionaires and the biggest corporations, kick Americans off their health care, cut kids off from nutrition assistance and raise costs on everyday essentials for working families, Democrats in Congress are continuing their push to help working people make ends meet—including by tackling the childcare crisis.

The cost of child care nationwide continues to rise—and far from helping tackle it, President Trump is exacerbating the affordability crisis. The average cost of child care is now $13,128—a 29% increase since 2020 that outpaces inflation. In 49 states and the District of Columbia, the average annual costs of child care for two children exceed median rent—and in 41 states and the District of Columbia, the cost of care for one infant exceeds in-state university tuition. The crisis costs the U.S. economy over $100 billion each year. Nonetheless, President Trump has gutted oversight of and support for the federal childcare office, held up childcare funding to states, held up Head Start funding and now created massive holes in states’ budgets with the “Big Beautiful Bill’s” cuts to Medicaid and SNAP—which may well force states to pare back on their own investments in child care. While two-thirds of Americans oppose Republicans’ Big Beautiful Betrayal that President Trump signed into law earlier this month, over three-quarters of Americans support increased investment to help families afford child care.

The Child Care for Working Families Act would tackle the childcare crisis head-on: ensuring families can afford the child care they need, expanding access to more high-quality options, stabilizing the child care sector and helping ensure child care workers taking care of our nation’s kids are paid livable wages. The legislation would also dramatically expand access to pre-K and support full-day, full-year Head Start programs and increase wages for Head Start workers. Under the legislation, typical family in America will pay no more than $15 a day for child care—with many families paying nothing at all—and no eligible family will pay more than 7% of their income on child care.

The Child Care for Working Families Act would help:

  • Make child care affordable for working families.
    • The typical family earning the state median income would pay less than $15 a day for child care.
    • No working family would pay more than seven percent of their income on child care.
    • Families earning below 85% of state median income would pay nothing at all for child care.
    • If a state does not choose to receive funding under this program, the Secretary can provide funds to localities, such as cities, counties, local governments, districts or Head Start agencies.
  • Improve the quality and supply of child care for all children and expand families’ child care options by:
    • Addressing childcare deserts by providing grants to help open new childcare providers in underserved communities.
    • Providing grants to cover start-up and licensing costs to help establish new providers.
    • Increasing childcare options for children who receive care during non-traditional hours.
    • Supporting child care for children who are dual-language learners, children who are experiencing homelessness and children in foster care.
  • Support higher wages for child care workers.
    • Childcare workers would be paid a living wage and achieve parity with elementary school teachers who have similar credentials and experience.
    • Childcare subsidies would cover the cost of providing high-quality care.
  • Dramatically expand access to high-quality pre-K.
    • States would receive funding to establish and expand a mixed-delivery system of high-quality preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds.
    • States must prioritize establishing and expanding universal local preschool programs within and across high-need communities.
    • If a state does not choose to receive funding under this program, the Secretary can provide funds to localities, such as cities, counties, local governments, districts or Head Start agencies.
  • Better support Head Start programs by providing the funding necessary to offer full-day, full-year programming and increasing wages for Head Start workers.

Along with Duckworth, Durbin and Murray, the legislation is cosponsored by 41 additional U.S. Senators—the most in the bill’s history: U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

The full text of the bill is available on Senator Duckworth’s website.

 

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