Biden to sign executive order aimed at bolstering child care and long-term care access
Ryan King
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President Joe Biden will sign an executive order Tuesday aimed at making both child care and long-term care more affordable, the White House announced.
Facing hurdles pushing his “care economy” agenda through Congress, Biden’s executive action will feature more than 50 directives across his administration calling on Cabinet-level agencies to “Identify which of their grant programs can support child care and long-term care.”
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“Biden will announce the most comprehensive set of executive actions any President has ever taken to improve care for hard-working families while supporting care workers and family caregivers,” the White House said in a statement. “Too many families and individuals struggle to access the affordable, high-quality care they need.”
The president is also calling on agencies to consider mandating companies that apply for federal job-creation funds bolster child care benefits for their employees.
To ensure child care is adequate, Biden is directing the Office of Personnel Management to review its subsidy policy and consider government-wide standards for “when and how federal agencies should provide child care subsidies to federal employees.”
Biden’s order will also have an emphasis on veterans and the military. It calls for the Department of Defense to “improve the affordability of child care on military installations” and the Department of Veterans Affairs to “improve access to home-based care for veterans.”
Additionally, Biden is seeking to enhance conditions for caregivers and early educators. This includes having the Department of Health and Human Services “take steps to increase the pay and benefits” of its staff for the Head Start program and leveraging Medicaid funding for home care workers.
Over the past decade, child care costs soared 26%, and long-term costs spiked 40%, according to the White House. The Biden administration also cited a projection that gross domestic product could dip $290 billion annually starting in 2030 if the United States does not adequately address the problem.
Biden sought many reforms for the “care economy” through various iterations of his “Build Back Better” agenda, which ultimately fell by the wayside in Congress. His administration will continue to implore Congress to back $750 billion in funding for those initiatives over the next decade, according to Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice.
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Many of those spending requests were featured in the president’s $6.9 trillion budget proposal unveiled last month.
Biden is set to sign the order at a White House Rose Garden ceremony Tuesday afternoon.