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During a private Easter luncheon at the White House, he went on a tirade about how the United States “can’t take care of day care” because “we have to take care of one thing, military protection.” He went on to pin the responsibility solely on the states, sharing that he told Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, “Don’t send any money for day care…. We’re a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people. We’re fighting wars. You got to let a state take care of day care. And they should pay for it, too.”
No doubt, the cost of childcare, which is rising quicker than the overall rate of inflation, is among the starkest of affordability issues affecting families in this country. In many states, the average cost of daycare runs upward of $1,000 a month per child. The U.S. government’s benchmark for what is “affordable” — when less than 7 percent of the household income, for a family with two children, goes toward childcare — amounts to parents having to earn around $400,000 annually to meet that standard.
While on the campaign trail in 2024, Trump responded to a straightforward question from Moms First CEO Reshma Saujani about his commitment to childcare reforms. His answer — a bombastic word salad, of course — went viral as he implied there would be some federal commitment. Not that anyone believed it for a moment. The entire trad-wife meets pronatalist agenda his administration is mired in revolves entirely around the notion that women should not or won’t want to work (even to vote, for that matter), making such policies all but irrelevant to them.
Historically, federal dollars have helped support state-sponsored childcare programs across the country, to which individual states contribute funds as well. In 2025, Congress allocated more than $12 billion vis-à-vis the Child Care and Development Fund. Now Democrats in Congress and in the states are trying to forge meaningful solutions.
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A handful of states and municipalities are also advancing the ball. New Mexico is the first (and still only) state to offer universal day care; New York is working to take similar steps. Meanwhile New York City is full steam ahead on an ambitious and highly publicized agenda: thus far, more than 1,000 new 3-K seats as well as 2,000 new 2-K seats are committed for four communities beginning this fall. The city is poised to launch an online childcare map and a suite of interactive tools and central platform to make it easier for families to find and choose childcare that best meets their needs. Cardi B has been tapped to help choose a promotional jingle for these opportunities.
Still, the Trump administration is trying to punish Democratic-led states on the basis of such programs — California, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York among them — suspending federal funding and making false claims about fraud. So far, courts have blocked his efforts.
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