Newsbreak: President Biden’s Groundbreaking 2024 Budget Proposal to Revolutionize Childcare and Paid Family Leave in America

President Biden has proposed a federal budget for 2024 that aims to address the high cost of childcare in the US. According to a report by Common Cents Mom on October 18, 2022, the country is ranked last in the developed world for early childcare, and 75% of private sector workers have no access to paid family leave through their employer. Without a national paid parental leave plan in place, parents in states without such laws are often forced to return to work immediately or pay high prices for childcare.

Biden’s budget seeks to tackle these issues in at least five ways, including by restoring the full child tax credit, providing a national comprehensive paid family and medical leave program administered by the Social Security Administration, expanding access to affordable, high-quality childcare, allocating an additional $22.1 billion to Head Start’s early care and education programs, and providing an expanded tax credit for businesses that offer childcare benefits to their employees.

Based on a report by GOBankingRates on March 10, 2023, these proposed changes could help better support American families, strengthen the workforce, and set children up for a lifetime of success. The expansion of these programs could make preschool available to all of the approximately four million four-year-old children in the US. The enhanced child tax credit delivered during the pandemic helped reduce child poverty by 25%. Over a ten-year period, the budget proposal forecasts a total allocation of $600 billion to child care and preschool programs.