The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Amy Fried is a retired political science professor at the University of Maine. Her views are her own and do not represent those of any group with which she is affiliated.
Most parents are working to earn money and need child care. That was certainly true of my family.
At the same time, child care is expensive. It’s another pressure that falls particularly on mothers. As a recent study found, “Two-thirds of moms considered leaving the workforce last year due to the stress and cost of child care, highest among Gen Z at 82 percent.”
I’ve never seen so much discussion of child care in any presidential election. However, not only are the candidates’ positions different but some aren’t remotely practical.
Take the views of Donald Trump and JD Vance.
Child care isn’t included in the issues section of their website, but they’ve been asked about it.
What Trump’s said about child care has been vague, rambling and utterly without detail. Last week Trump told an audience “child care is child care, couldn’t, you know, it’s something, you have to have it, in this country you have to have it.”
Trump then went on to talk about tariffs, which economists and tax experts conclude raise consumer costs, especially harming lower-income people. Both conservative and left-leaning analysts found that Trump’s tariff plan would “cost middle-class families roughly $4,000 a year.”
Trump concluded his child care take by saying “We have to do it because right now we are a failing nation. So we’ll take care of it.” This reminds me of when Trump kept claiming he’d put out a “fantastic” health care plan to replace the Affordable care Act in a few weeks.
And when asked last week what parents could do for child care, Vance said they should look to relatives, saying “Maybe Grandma and Grandpa want to help out a little bit more. Or maybe there’s an aunt or uncle that wants to help out a little bit more.”
That wouldn’t have worked for my husband and me or many others. We didn’t have relatives nearby and some of our parents died fairly young. Also, sometimes close relatives are still working or aren’t well enough to help.
Project 2025, a plan designed by the Heritage Foundation for Trump, which he praised and then tried to distance himself from, proposes raising the Social Security retirement age. The key policy group of House Republicans agrees. That would keep seniors working longer, so how could they do child care, too?
In contrast, Democrats Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have concrete plans and track records, and child care is discussed on their website.
One prong involves tax relief for families with children. Harris proposes increasing “the child tax credit, which sits at $2,000 per child, up to $3,600, and offer families with newborns up to $6,000 in the first year of the child’s life.”
As governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz passed a child tax credit. In 2023 “215,000 tax returns claimed the new child tax credit, claiming over 437,000 eligible children for an average total credit of $1,244 per child.” Next year qualifying Minnesotans can receive these funds before filing their taxes — monthly or every two or four months.
Republican JD Vance has said he supports increasing the child tax credit but didn’t show up to vote on it last month.
Harris also backs a national policy paid family and medical leave, something nearly all other countries already have.
And Walz got paid leave in his state. At the bill signing ceremony in 2023, Walz said “Paid family and medical leave is about investing in the people that made our state and economy strong in the first place … [W]e’re ensuring Minnesotans no longer have to make the choice between a paycheck and taking time off to care for a new baby or a sick family member.”
In contrast, neither Trump or Vance have a proposal for paid family leave.
So the good news for people who need help with child care costs and care about this issue is that the presidential and vice-presidential candidates are talking about it. And, yes, Trump is right that “child care is child care.” But it’s clear that only Harris and Walz have detailed, meaningful policy plans that could do something for parents and their families.
