Kamala Harris, Treasury Secretary push for more spending on child care

The Biden-Harris administration is currently looking to shore up public support for upcoming proposals such as the massive $3.5 trillion social spending bill. US Vice President Kamala Harris along with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently pushed for more spending on child care following a recent report by the agency.

A new report by the Treasury Department found that most families would be unable to afford child care, stating that an average family with at least one child under five years old would need to spend around 13 percent of its income. The report also stated that only 20 percent of children that are eligible for the federal assistance programs for low-income families actually receive the assistance.

This report comes as the administration is looking to include child care as part of the social spending proposal that Democrats plan to pass through Congress without the need for GOP support. The Biden administration is pushing for policies to help families with children which includes access to more affordable child care to low or middle-class families. The objective is to have families use no more than seven percent of their income for child care for young children through subsidies and tax credits.

“Child care is what makes it possible for millions of Americans to work,” Harris said at an event Wednesday along with Yellen.

The report by the Treasury also found that care providers are also struggling to make ends meet while workers, most of whom are women of color, do not earn high wages and some have to rely on public services.

In other news, a nurse from Miami, Niviane Petit Phelps, who threatened to kill Harris pleaded guilty to six counts. Phelps faces up to five years in prison for the charges against her, according to prosecutors. Phelps’ sentencing is set for November 19.

Back in February, Phelps sent her incarcerated husband six videos lasting 30 seconds where she threatened to kill Harris and claimed that she was paid $53,000 to do so as the “hitman,” according to officials. Phelps also sent her husband a photo of herself with a handgun at a gun range and applied for a concealed firearm permit.