Family issues often come last in national policy, analysis shows

The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act may have been a win for Democrats and President Joe Biden on climate, the U.S. economy and prescription drug prices, but for women it falls short of its potential on key policies, as CNN reports. 

The Democrats’ ambitious plans at points included universal pre-kindergarten, lower child care costs, paid family leave and the enhanced child tax credit, among other provisions, but those were ultimately eliminated during negotiations. Those cuts mark the ninth time in just two and a half years that proposed legislation aimed at helping women and families has been removed, according to a CNN analysis of data from the Congressional Budget Office and Congressional Research Reports.

And although universal pre-kindergarten was only rejected once in the last two years, the idea is far from new to the United States: The Lanham Act provided universal child care to nearly 130,000 children at its peak during World War II, and bills for universal pre-K were introduced by Democrats in Congress nearly every year from 1999 to 2019 that never advanced, the analysis showed. The frustration among lawmakers working to include these provisions runs deep.

“We’re not going to let one man tell all the women in this country that they can’t have paid leave,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.) after negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) seemed to eliminate the provision from the Build Back Better Act in 2021, as CNN reports.

Despite polling from January that showed more than half of Americans believe universal pre-K and paid family leave would help the country, these provisions keep facing the combined headwinds of a 50-50 Senate and the economic impact of the Covid pandemic.