Child care costs in the United States are the highest among other developed nations. During the 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden said he would do something to lower them. 

In 2020, he promised that, if elected, families would "get back as a tax credit as much as half of their spending on child care for children under age 13, up to a total of $8,000 for one child or $16,000 for two or more children."

Biden was referring to the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. In 2021, the administration approved, and Congress passed, the American Rescue Plan, a COVID-19 pandemic relief bill that temporarily increased the amount of child care expenses families could claim based on the number of qualifying dependents. The law also increased the percentage of those expenses that families could receive as a tax credit, and made the credit refundable, so families with little or no tax liability could still benefit.  

For the 2021 tax year, families with one child could claim $8,000 in child care expenses, up from $3,000, and a family with two or more children could claim $16,000, up from $6,000.

That year, families could receive up to 50% of their expense amount as a tax credit, as opposed to the pre-American Rescue Plan limit of 35%. So, a one-child family could receive up to $4,000 as a tax credit, and a family with two or more children could receive up to $8,000.

The expansion was not restored amid opposition. The child care credit reverted in 2022 to the previous expense limit of $3,000 for families with one child and $6,000 for families with two or more children.  

In Biden's initial 2021 Build Back Better bill, the administration included a provision that would have significantly expanded funding and eligibility for child care assistance. For young children, parents would have paid no more than 7% of their family income, a provision that would cover nearly all families earning up to $300,000, according to congressional Democrats' calculations. And families who earn 75% or less of their state's median income could send their children to day care for free. Preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds would be free, and eligible parents who need to pay for extended hours could get a subsidy.

The bill passed the House in November 2021 but the provision died in the Senate. The bill that passed both chambers, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, didn't address child care costs; it focused mostly on climate change, health care and corporate taxation.

A recent Labor Department analysis found that families spent up to $15,600 per year on full-day care per child in 2022, and that families with infants have faced costs as high as $31,500 annually, depending on where they lived.

This exceeds the U.S. median rent of $15,216 that same year, the report found, with some families spending nearly 30% of their annual income on child care. Overall, child care costs have increased more than 50% over the last 10 years. Although federal programs exist to help eligible parents pay for day care, they're targeted for low-income earners.

Biden promised to expand the child care tax credit up to $8,000. His administration achieved that under the American Rescue Plan — but this was in effect only for 2021. Congress didn't approve other legislative efforts to decrease child care costs. We rate this Compromise.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden promised to ease the burden of paying for child care with an $8,000 tax credit. But as his agenda items were pared back in the Senate, a child care provision was left on the cutting room floor.

The initial version of Biden's Build Back Better bill would have substantially expanded funding and eligibility for federal child care assistance. Under the bill, parents would have received help with their child care costs as they incurred them during the year, rather than having to pay up front and then wait until the following year to have some of those costs reimbursed through the tax system.

The bill passed the House, but in the Senate, Democrats decided that they couldn't agree on a measure that broad. 

The bill that ultimately passed the Senate — and that is expected to pass the House and be signed by Biden — was limited mostly to elements on climate change, health care and corporate taxation. It did not address child care, and experts consider it unlikely to be revived in the short term.

"I don't see a path (to revive it) if the Democrats don't keep the Senate and the House," said Kyle Pomerleau, a senior fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank based in Washington, D.C.

Until we see evidence to the contrary, we rate this promise Stalled.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden promised to ease the burden of paying for child care by means of an $8,000 tax credit. But instead of pursuing that course, his administration has advanced a plan with a different mechanism to achieve much the same goal.

Child care can cost around $10,000 a year for each child, depending on location and age. For families with multiple children in child care, and for low- and moderate-wage earners, child care costs can eat up a substantial portion of their income. While there are existing federal programs to help eligible parents pay for day care, those are intended for low-income earners. 

Legislation backed by Biden to strengthen the public safety net, the Build Back Better bill, would substantially expand funding and eligibility for federal child care assistance. The bill has passed the House and is now under consideration in the Senate. It includes a provision to significantly expand federal funding for child care. 

If passed, the child care provisions could start as soon as 2022, ramping up to full enactment over three years. The preschool program for 3- and 4-year-olds would be free, and eligible parents who need to pay for extended hours of care could get a subsidy. 

For younger children, parents would pay no more than 7% of their family income, a provision that would cover nearly all families earning up to $300,000, according to Democrats' calculations. And families who earn 75% or less of their state's median income could send their children for free. 

The bill would provide subsidies for parents to pay for any child care service that meets state licensing requirements. This could include a child care center, a faith-based program or home-based child care. 

State governments would determine how the new federal funding gets disbursed. The state might decide to give parents the funds to use, or the money may go directly from state coffers to the child care provider, said Karen Schulman, director of state child care policy at the National Women's Law Center.

The mechanism envisioned in the Build Back Better bill has one advantage over the tax credit Biden suggested during the campaign, Schulman said. Under the bill, parents would receive help with their child care costs as they incur them during the year, rather than having to pay up front and then wait until the following year to have some of those costs reimbursed through the tax system, she said.

While critics have raised concerns that the proposal in the Build Back Better bill doesn't adequately protect faith-based child care facilities, there is little question that the provision in the bill would provide a major funding increase to help most families afford child care.

House passage means that Biden's proposal is now before the Senate and one step closer to enactment. Despite the technical differences between Biden's original promise and the language in the Build Back Better bill, we rate this promise In the Works.