Biden revives effort to lower costs of caregiving for families
WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Joe Biden runs for reelection, he’s resurrecting proposals to reshape American life from the cradle to the grave by lowering the cost of child care, expanding preschool opportunities and making home aides more available to the elderly.
The initiatives were once part of Build Back Better, Biden’s gargantuan legislative agenda that stalled on Capitol Hill two years ago. Now they’re what Neera Tanden, the Democratic president’s top domestic policy adviser, describes as “unfinished business.”
Although the White House has tried to advance these ideas in a piecemeal fashion through regulations and executive orders, Biden hopes to have another opportunity to push more ambitious legislation through Congress in a second term.
PRESSURES ON THE ‘SANDWICH GENERATION’
As Biden faces blowback for inflation under his watch, his team sees an opportunity to promise lower costs for voters who are part of the “sandwich generation” — those responsible for young children and aging parents at the same time.