Is this finally the moment Americans get universal child care?
We don’t need to tell you America has a child care problem. Many of you can feel it. We certainly can; one of our producers changed a diaper during today’s taping. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown this problem into sharp relief — women’s workforce participation rate is at a 30-year low — but it’s not new. On today’s show, University of Maryland professor emerita Sonya Michel talks about the history of government-sponsored child care in this country, its economic benefits and whether the new, $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill could actually bring about long-term solutions.