July 28, 2025

Merkley, Wyden Advocate for Affordable Child Care

As Republicans deliver massive tax breaks for billionaires and kick Americans off their health care, Democrats continue their fight to help families find and afford child care 

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden said today they cosponsored the Child Care for Working Families Act, comprehensive legislation to ensure families across America can find and afford the high-quality child care they need.

“Child care is essential for the success of working families, but as I hold town halls in all of Oregon’s 36 counties, I hear from hardworking families about child care being too hard to find and too expensive,” said Merkley. “We need to make sure Oregon’s middle-class families have access to reliable and affordable child care. The Child Care For Working Families Act is a win for families who need child care and for Oregon businesses who need more child care providers.”

“Families in Oregon and nationwide want the best possible care for their children while they’re working hard to earn a living,” said Wyden. “This legislation would help those families meet that quality-of-life challenge by investing in common-sense steps that make this key service affordable, improve the pay child care workers receive, expand availability and more.”

As President Trump and Republicans in Congress choose to spend trillions on new tax cuts for billionaires and the biggest corporations, kick Americans off their health care, cut kids off from nutrition assistance, and raise costs on everyday essentials for working families, Democrats in Congress are continuing their push to help working people make ends meet—including by tackling the child care crisis.

The cost of child care nationwide continues to rise—and President Trump is exacerbating the affordability crisis. The average cost of child care in the United States is now $13,128 per year—a 29% increase since 2020 that outpaces inflation. Comparatively, the annual price of child care in Oregon for 2024 was $19,500 for an infant in center-based child care and $17,368 for a toddler in center-based child care.

In 49 states and the District of Columbia, the average annual costs of child care for two children exceeds median rent—and in 41 states and the District of Columbia, the cost of care for one infant exceeds in-state university tuition. The crisis costs the U.S. economy over $100 billion each year.

Nonetheless, President Trump has gutted oversight of and support for the federal child care office, held up child care funding to states, and held up Head Start funding, causing even more funding and staffing struggles for our child care providers and families around the country.

The Child Care for Working Families Act would tackle the child care crisis head-on: ensuring families can afford the child care they need, expanding access to more high-quality options, stabilizing the child care sector, and helping ensure child care workers taking care of our nation’s kids are paid livable wages. The legislation will also dramatically expand access to pre-K, and support full-day, full-year Head Start programs and increased wages for Head Start workers. Under the legislation, which Merkley and Wyden have supported every Congress since 2017, the typical family in America will pay no more than $15 a day for child care—with many families paying nothing at all—and no eligible family will pay more than 7 percent of their income on child care.

The Child Care for Working Families Act will:

  • Make child care affordable for working families.
    • The typical family earning the state median income will pay about $10 a day for child care.
    • No working family will pay more than seven percent of their income on child care.
    • Families earning below 85 percent of state median income will pay nothing at all for child care.
    • If a state does not choose to receive funding under this program, the Secretary of Health and Human Services can provide funds to localities, such as cities, counties, local governments, districts, or Head Start agencies.
  • Improve the quality and supply of child care for all children and expand families’ child care options by:
    • Addressing child care deserts by providing grants to help open new child care providers in underserved communities.
    • Providing grants to cover start-up and licensing costs to help establish new providers.
    • Increasing child care options for children who receive care during non-traditional hours.
    • Supporting child care for children who are dual-language learners, children who are experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care.
  • Support higher wages for child care workers.
    • Child care workers would be paid a living wage and achieve parity with elementary school teachers who have similar credentials and experience.
    • Child care subsidies would cover the cost of providing high-quality care.
  • Dramatically expand access to high-quality pre-K.
    • States would receive funding to establish and expand a mixed-delivery system of high-quality preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds.
    • States must prioritize establishing and expanding universal local preschool programs within and across high-need communities.
    • If a state does not choose to receive funding under this program, the Secretary of Health and Human Services can provide funds to localities, such as cities, counties, local governments, districts, or Head Start agencies.
  • Better support Head Start programs by providing the funding necessary to offer full-day, full-year programming and increasing wages for Head Start workers.

The Child Care for Working Families Act was led by Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Andy Kim (D-NJ) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Democratic Leader. In addition to Merkley and Wyden, the bill was also cosponsored by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Reuben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

Companion legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA-03), House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA-05) and Representative Summer Lee (D-PA-12) alongside 80 additional cosponsors in the House.

A fact sheet on the legislation is available HERE.

Text of the legislation is available HERE.