op-ed

Julie Kashen: In 2024, the stakes for our care economy couldn’t be higher

By Julie Kashen

Every four years, breathless news coverage of the “horse race” presidential cycle too often leaves out what the election actually means for families across the country. That is a mistake: as presidential elections are an important opportunity for America to have a national conversation about the policy issues that could make lives better. 

Today, poll after poll, across every demographic, shows that the number one issue on voters’ minds is “the economy.” The disconnect between today’s positive indicators of job growth and consumer confidence and how people often feel negatively about their own economic stability is hard to navigate but essential to address. As economist Kate Bahn put it, a low unemployment rate “is cold comfort to most families struggling to make their daily lives work.” 

Some of the biggest challenges to making it work include caring for children and aging parents, managing personal health issues, and supporting disabled loved ones. To address the real concerns of real Americans, care should be front and center in the presidential election conversations. 

For President Joe Biden, these issues are personal – and a top priority. When he was first elected to the Senate and then tragically lost his wife and daughter in a car accident a month later, Biden’s parents and sister moved in with him to help care for his two surviving sons so he could continue to serve. His proposals show that he understands not everyone has a parent or sister who can provide care, but everybody should have support to care for their loved ones. 

That is why President Biden has been laser-focused on lowering costs for families by making transformational investments in the care economy. That includes increasing high-quality, affordable child-care options, creating nationally guaranteed access to paid family and medical leave, and investing in home- and community-based services for older adults and disabled people through the Build Back Better Act. 

While care policies ultimately were not included in Build Back Better’s more limited climate- and healthcare-focused successor bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration has stayed true to all three care policy commitments in annual budget proposals and administrative actions. While the impacts of these policies are not yet widely felt, they will be, and they are helping to pave the way to care progress. 

Additionally, in February, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a childcare rule reducing the tuition that low-income families who rely on the childcare program pay, and making it easier for states to eliminate co-payments for families that are struggling to make ends meet. The rule also ensures that providers will be paid fairly and on time so they have more stability in their operations.

In former President Donald Trump, voters have a candidate who has shown he does not care about care. His personal experience as a wealthy real estate owner reflects that of the small percentage of wealthy families for whom high prices do not matter and options abound. His signature legislative accomplishment was a $2 trillion tax cut, the benefits of which went to the wealthiest Americans and corporations, diverting resources that could be invested in childcare programs or lowering costs of care. 

Among his concerning promises on the campaign trail, Trump has vowed that one of his top priorities, if he returns to the Oval Office, would be extending those tax cuts that even right-leaning experts have estimated would cost $4.6 trillion. Coupled with Congressional Republicans’ proposals to slash Social Security, under a Trump second term, seniors and disabled people would be left to DIY care for themselves or their loved ones. 

The stakes of this election are high for the country – and that is especially true for women and families. We must use our voices in November to guarantee that we can finish the work of the care agenda and create a fairer, more humane, and more prosperous economy in this nation.


Julie Kashen is the Director of Women’s Economic Justice and a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation. The views expressed here are her own.

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