Childcare-focused group deploys $40 million to help Democrats

A liberal political organization that promotes economic policies for working families, the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy, will spend $40 million to support the re-election bid of President Biden and other Democratic candidates for the House and Senate.

The program, announced Monday morning, is the Democratic-allied organization's largest political investment, which aims to help Mr. Biden and draw attention to economic issues such as the cost of child care and elder care in the 2024 campaign. Although While these remain the biggest concerns for voters, they should still become a central focus of Biden's reelection efforts.

The group's plans, first shared with The New York Times, call for mobilizing a broad base of Democratic and independent voters in states that will be important for the presidential election and control of Congress: Georgia, Montana , New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. . In addition to the president, the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy plans to endorse Democratic candidates who support policies including paid family medical leave, cheaper prescription drugs and affordable child care and elder care.

“You'll be hard-pressed to find a kitchen table where people aren't discussing the high costs of caregiving and especially child care,” said Sondra Goldschein, executive director of the group's political action committee. “People don't know what Biden and the Democrats have done to help with things like child care, and that's where we come in.”

Early in his term, Biden's administration spent $24 billion to keep child care facilities open as part of a rescue package to combat the pandemic. These funds expired in September.

Since then, Mr. Biden has failed to deliver on initial promises to make child care more affordable for families. Proposals that would provide child care and health care subsidies for more than six million three- and four-year-olds and monthly payments for families with children failed to gain support in Congress. Mr. Biden ultimately abandoned those legislative plans in favor of boosting infrastructure and environmental spending.

In April, Mr. Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to find ways to make child care cheaper and more accessible, an effort to make progress on his stalled promise.

J. Glenn Hopkins, president of Hopkins House, a child care organization in Virginia, said he lost more than half of his employees during the pandemic. He has struggled to hire qualified teachers and child care providers.

“Where we are now post-pandemic is no better than where we were pre-pandemic,” said Mr Hopkins, who supports the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy. “We are still looking for quality people.”

Ms. Goldschein believes her group's efforts can help build political momentum to turn affordable childcare policies into reality, should Mr. Biden win re-election.

“We really think the way to make sure this crosses the finish line is to pick that Democratic trifecta and do it in a way that shows this is the issue that matters to voters,” she said. “We are very focused on building that political momentum.”

As the 2024 campaign begins to shift toward a likely rematch between Mr. Biden and former President Donald J. Trump, other liberal organizations have made a series of spending announcements. VoteVets, a group that supports veterans running for office, will spend $45 million to back Mr. Biden and other Democratic candidates. Future Forward, the main Democratic super PAC backing Biden's bid, has planned a $250 million ad blitz. Last month, liberal activist group MoveOn unveiled its $32 million program.