Murray & Senate Democrats release new Broken Promises report revealing how Trump has accelerated the child care crisis
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) released a Broken Promises report detailing how Trump’s billionaire tax cuts and continuous attacks on child care and early education programs have led to skyrocketing prices for American families.
The senators expose the harm of the Trump administration in a first-of-its-kind report on how child care costs have skyrocketed under the Trump administration. The report details how families cannot afford child care, how it’s hard to find affordable high-quality child care, how Trump is attacking our federal child care and early childhood education experts, and how Republicans are actively undermining the child care sector.
“While Republicans push for a half trillion dollar increase for Trump’s war budget and not a single cent more for child care—Democrats are focused on making child care more affordable for American families. Trump promised no new wars and lower costs—he broke that promise and even insisted that America couldn’t pay for child care because we had to pay for wars instead,” said Senator Murray. “Meanwhile, Democrats are putting forward an agenda that will make life more affordable for American families in all 50 states—and we’re making high-quality, affordable child care a top priority.”
“Time and time again Donald Trump and Republicans have sided with the ultra-rich at the cost of hard-working American families. Trump continues to focus on costly wars in the Middle East, slush funds for insurrectionists, and ostentatious ballrooms, meanwhile Americans are paying more in child care than they are in college tuition,” said Leader Schumer. “People in the richest country in the world should not view child care as a financial burden. Senate Democrats are fighting to lower costs while continuing to expose how Trump and his administration’s continued broken promises have led to families struggling to make ends meet.”
“Americans are drowning under child care costs that just keep going up, and instead of doing anything to fix it, Donald Trump slashed the programs that help families afford care and gave billion-dollar tax handouts to giant corporations,” said Senator Warren. “Fixing the affordability crisis in this country means delivering universal child care, and Democrats are fighting to get it done.”
Child care costs have long been one of the greatest financial burdens facing American families. President Trump and Republicans have repeatedly attacked federal child care and early education, such as the Child Care Development Block Grant and Head Start, and are waging an all-out war on the child care sector. Now, many families are left unable to find affordable, high-quality child care.
With Donald Trump in the White House and Republicans controlling Congress, America’s child care crisis is accelerating. Across the country, 80% of voters say that the ability to find or afford child care is “a major problem” or is in a “state of crisis.” In 2025, the national average cost of child care across all ages reached $13,184 per year. As of 2025, child care prices were 5% higher than the year prior. In almost every state, child care costs now exceed average in-state college tuition, rent, or even mortgage payments for many families, placing severe strain on household budgets.
In April, President Trump said “Don’t send any money for day care, because the United States can’t take care of day care… We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care… It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.”
The new “Broken Promises” report is part of Senate Democrats’ year-long initiative to address the cost-of-living crisis Trump and Republicans have created. So far, Democrats have focused on the rising cost of housing, historic food and grocery prices, skyrocketing energy costs, and slashes to health care.
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