Now that Vice President Kamala Harris is the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, perhaps the campaign can focus more on policy and issues that the American people care about. Following the first presidential debate, all the attention was on President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. There were legitimate reasons to be concerned about Biden’s mental acuity (for both political and governance reasons), but I was frustrated and concerned about something else—neither candidate seemed interested in addressing the pressing problems that Americans face on an everyday basis. The number of issues that former President Donald Trump and Biden side-stepped were vast, but one stuck out to me as a new parent—the price of childcare.
The two candidates’ non-answers on the issue were especially infuriating. Jake Tapper, the moderator, posed the question to Trump first. But the former president used his time to lambast Biden as the worst president ever and condemn him for not firing more people. He then got in some talking points about the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and immigration before wrapping up by asserting that Biden is “worst” president “in history by far.” Biden responded, perhaps justifiably, by defending himself and citing presidential historians who conclude that Trump was the worst president in American history.
This back and forth was exhausting for me as a father and as a trained historian. I mean, come on, does anyone really think Trump or Biden was worse than President James Buchanan who did little to prevent the Civil War? And further, does anyone think that most parents care? They are likely much more concerned that the annual cost of childcare on average is $11,000 and makes up 10 to 15 percent of the average American family’s budget. Perhaps they are even contemplating one of them leaving the labor force because they can’t find affordable and/or adequate care for their children.
To his credit, Biden did provide two sentences on child care expenses. He suggested that the childcare tax credit be increased and called for businesses to have more childcare facilities. Biden’s team must have been deeply disappointed because in April the administration held meetings with the Small Business Administration to provide funding to “support the expansion of childcare delivery systems, increase childcare slots, and improve childcare access, affordability, and quality.” Perhaps with Harris in the race there will be more substance in the next debate.
This is a major pocketbook issue for most American parents. As Tapper explained, childcare for two children is often more expensive for many families than their rent or mortgage payment. Biden seems to think the answer comes from the top down. Trump appeared to not be interested in the issue at all—which is unfortunate given his record of deregulation. So, what can be done?
Luckily, we don’t need the federal government to save us. Many of the answers to the problem of high childcare costs can be found at the state level. State governments have instituted numerous regulations that childcare facilities must adhere to. In most states there is a square footage to child ratio that must be followed. This raises the amount of space that the facility must rent and thus the overhead for the business. Another common regulation is minimum teacher to child ratios that increase the labor costs of daycare facilities. Licensing requirements for childcare workers are a further contributing factor to the high cost.
Research demonstrates that these regulations, while perhaps well-intentioned, have had the effect of raising childcare costs without increasing the quality of care. Yes, you read that correctly: These seemingly common-sense regulations have not actually resulted in increased quality for our kids. Instead, they have arbitrarily restricted new entrants into the market and increased the cost for parents. Further research has found that these regulations decrease the diversity of childcare options and contribute to families having fewer children than they would like to have.
This is a major problem for the future of our polity. Yes, families who desire to have more children being able to fulfill the dream of a bigger family is a good thing. We should remove as many regulatory barriers as we possibly can to empower families to achieve that end.
Too often, the American people look to Washington and to the presidency in particular to solve their problems. In many cases, the solutions they seek can be found much closer to home at the state, local, or even community level. In the case of rising childcare costs, part of the problem seems to be barriers established by state legislatures. Instead of relying on politicians in a distant capital, perhaps we should simply remove the existing regulatory barriers and see where that gets us.
