Trump Said He’d Make Child Care More Affordable. Moms Are Holding Him to it

Five months ago I was on stage at the Economic Club of New York for a Q&A with then presidential candidate Donald Trump. There were only four questions allowed, and I knew I had to make mine count. So I asked about the economic issue that comes up most in my work and in my personal life: the cost of child care.

Specifically, “If you win in November, can you commit to legislation making child care affordable? And if so, what specific piece of legislation will you advance?”

It’s not exactly what the room—New York business elite, suits as far as the eye could see—was expecting to hear. But maybe they should have been. The rising cost of child care isn’t just some fringe social issue; it’s an economic issue, plain and simple. And right now, millions of parents across America are in crisis. Much ink has been spilled over the skyrocketing price of eggs, but it’s not just the grocery bill that’s stretching family budgets thin. It’s child care—so much so that a staggering 55% of parents in the United States have fallen into debt taking care of their families.

President Trump got the message—from voters and, apparently, from his own daughter. At a town hall a few weeks after the Economic Club event, Trump shared Ivanka’s support of child tax credits, acknowledged that the current costs are “not fair,” and vowed to “readjust” taxes to change that. And on the debate stage, Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, made child care costs a centerpiece of his performance.

President Trump and Vice President Vance campaigned on these promises (among others) and won. The majority of American voters sent them to Washington to address rising costs. Well, now is the moment for President Trump’s child care promises to be seen through: Make good on your word, and deliver for the working families you’ve pledged to serve.

As the founder of Moms First, a movement born out of the pandemic to advocate for the support moms need, I hear from parents constantly about the untenable costs of care. The single mom who works three jobs and still struggles to make ends meet at a time when the cost of living is so high. The working parents with no family or friends nearby who take out a second mortgage—going further into debt like so many parents—just to pay for the soaring cost of child care. The stay-at-home mom who yearns to go back to work but can’t afford to pay for child care.

No matter how you feel about the party in power, or how frustrated you feel with politics in general, stories like these remind us that millions of us are united around at least one ideal: America must take better care of working families. Right now there are some real opportunities to go beyond merely talking about the child care crisis—and instead make actual investments toward a more affordable care system.