“Senator Markey (D-Mass.) joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and over three dozen lawmakers in unveiling new legislation that would expand access to affordable child care”

You can read the full text of the bill here: https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/KIN23032_2.6.23.pdf

The bill is already getting media attention but will be hard to pass with congressional republicans most likely not supporting it. Here is what some of the news coverage is saying.

CBS Boston news wrote “Under her proposal, a Massachusetts family with an infant and 2-year-old making about $130,000 a year wouldn't pay more than $10 per day or $200 a month. That would be a big drop-off from the current average cost of $3,128 a month.”

Mother Jones looked at this bill and compared it to past plans offered by Democrats and Republicans writing “Some Republican lawmakers have expressed support for expanding affordable child care access in the past. Last year, Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Tim Scott (D-SC) introduced a bill that would expand a block grant program to make more families eligible for free or reduced childcare through their state governments. Like Warren and Sherrill’s bill, it would have ensured no eligible family paid more than 7 percent of their household income towards child care. But unlike the Democrats’ bill, its drafters didn’t express support for new government funding to pay for the program. In that sense, the GOP plan wouldn’t have expanded the affordable child care program or the number of kids it could serve—it would have merely expanded the waitlist for it”

WBUR stated “Under a federal proposal that is backed by Gov. Maura Healey, a family in Massachusetts with an infant and a two-year-old making $130,125 per year would pay no more than $10 per day, or $200 per month, down from the current average cost of $3,128 per month, according to Warren's office. The bill would also ensure that higher-income families pay no more than 7% of their income on child care, and lower-income families making less than 75% of their state's median income would be fully subsidized.”

The one pager summarizing the bill can be seen above and at this link: https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Universal%20Child%20Care%20One-Pager_2.7.2023.pdf