Sen. Katie Britt, speaking from her Alabama kitchen in the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, bemoaned the high cost of child care. She has one of her own to thank for that.
In 1971, Congress passed a comprehensive child care bill that would have created federally funded child care centers that offered early learning, meals, and medical checkups, and allowed parents to work. But to keep peace with his conservative supporters, President Richard Nixon vetoed it.
Imagine the impact this bill would have had on generations of families, allowing parents to afford child care so they could provide for their children. Instead, we’re still dealing with the same issues 53 years later.
