US-funded child care aid nearing reality with Biden bill

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and LISA MASCARO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Women — and some men — in Congress have been fighting for government child care assistance for almost 80 years. With President Joe Biden’s $1.85 trillion social services package, they are as close as they have ever been to winning. And it’s not just child care subsidies. Biden’s bill making its way through Congress would put the U.S. course to providing free prekindergarten, paid family leave to care for children or sick loved ones, and an enhanced child tax credit. Taken together, it’s a massive expansion of federal support to working families. Republicans are opposed, deriding it as radical and more government intrusion.