Warren urges investment in child care workers amid pandemic

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said she is renewing her push to create universal child care, saying the pandemic has underscored the need for such a program. 

The former Democratic presidential hopeful said that U.S. infrastructure has moved forward over the years in nearly every aspect except child care. 

“Our roads are better. Our access to electricity is better. But our child care infrastructure is worse,” Warren said in an interview with The New York Times. “Child care is a core part of our infrastructure.”

During her presidential bid, Warren proposed universal child care through a wealth tax. Warren told the Times she still thinks a wealth tax should be tied to universal child care.

“I think more people have begun to see how child care is an essential part of making this economy work and how child care workers are among the essential workers we must have to restart our economy,” she said.

Warren, who has been floated with several other women as a potential running mate for former Vice President Joe Biden, said he “deserves full credit” for his recently-announced plan to stimulate the “caregiving economy.”

The plan borrows elements from proposals of Warren and fellow progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), such as tax credits for child care. Warren insisted that she was not the architect behind Biden’s proposal.

“He gets how these pieces connect to each other,” Warren said. “And that’s a real advance. That hasn’t been there before. And he sees it as a real difference between himself and Donald Trump.”