What you need to know about Hillary Clinton’s plan to cut child care costs in America

Hillary Clinton 

Hillary Clinton has pledged to lead an effort that will ensure no family pays more than 10 percent of their income on quality child care. And that’s a big deal, because many families in America are spending more than one third of their income on child care.

Quality child care during early childhood is one of the most important investments a parent can make in their child’s future, but the cost of child care in America has been rising for decades: Between 2000 and 2012, child care costs rose by nearly 25 percent. But wages have remained stagnant—meaning the cost of child care is putting an even bigger strain on families.

In 27 states and the District of Columbia, the annual cost of infant child care is higher than a year’s in-state college tuition and fees at a public university.

And while child care costs continue to rise, more and more families rely on care. In more than 60 percent of households with children under six, all parents (single or married) are working.

The 4.8 million parents who are also students face high child care costs on top of rising tuition costs.

Hillary will fight to make sure every family in America has access to high quality, affordable child care. She will:

• Create an initiative that provides funding and support to communities that pay child care workers for the true value of their worth.
• Provide home visiting services to more than 2 million parents and children in the next 10 years.
• Increase federal funding to bring down the cost of child care for low-income families.
• Provide tax relief to help lower costs for working families.
• Double funding for the Early Head Start–Child Care partnership program.

“ The parents I’ve met over the past few days and parents that I’ve met over the past many years may come from different backgrounds, they may earn different incomes ... but they’re facing the same challenges ... It shouldn’t be about politics. It should be about families.”