Warren, Schumer, Murray Announce Senate Democrats’ Vision For Affordable, Available, High-Quality Child Care

Warren, Schumer, Murray Announce Senate Democrats' Vision For Affordable, Available, High-Quality Child Care

Democrats' new report exposes how Trump and Republicans have driven up costs and broken promises to American families

"While Donald Trump and Republicans dream up new ways to line their billionaire buddies' pockets and give giant corporations even bigger tax breaks, Democrats are united in the fight to lower families' costs and deliver universal child care."

Warren Remarks (Youtube) | Child Care Affordability Agenda (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in announcing the next pillar of Senate Democrats' affordability agenda: a new Senate Democratic vision to make child care more affordable, more available, and higher quality for families across the country. Democrats' policy framework stands in stark contrast to Republicans' policies, which have led to skyrocketing costs and exacerbated the child care crisis.

"Universal child care is the best investment we can make in bolstering the middle class," said Senator Warren. While Donald Trump and Republicans dream up new ways to line their billionaire buddies' pockets and give giant corporations even bigger tax breaks, Democrats are united in the fight to lower families' costs and deliver universal child care. Together, we'll get it done."

"Trump and Republicans have made finding reliable and affordable child care an impossible feat," said Leader Schumer. "They have waged an all-out war on the child care sector, hurting those who are the most vulnerable among us: children. Senate Democrats are focused on a Day One solution to the child care crisis that includes affordable child care that meets parents' needs while investing in the infrastructure, workforce, and early childhood programs. As Republicans continue to fund tax cuts for their billionaire buddies, Democrats are laser-focused on the issues that Americans actually care about - affordability."

"When I go back home there is not a single parent saying, 'What I really want-is higher prices and more war mongering.' That may seem fine to an out-of-touch billionaire like Trump but working families don't 'love' inflation. Instead, the issue that comes up the most is no surprise to any parent: It's child care. Trump's latest budget short changes child care, while blowing up war spending," said Senator Murray. "Trump says we can't afford child care. The truth is we can't afford to ignore child care. This year, Senator Warren and I announced our Child Care for America Working Group-a coalition dedicated to lowering costs and delivering affordable and accessible high quality child care for all families across the country. Now, we're making this a central focus of our caucus's long-term affordability agenda with Leader Schumer. This is a priority for families-so Democrats will make it a priority in Congress."

Child care costs are one of the largest financial burdens facing American families today. President Trump and Republicans have abandoned American families, leaving many unable to find affordable, high-quality child care. In the wake of this crisis, the senators released the Democrats' vision to lower child care costs and expand access to high-quality care for American families across the country, helping parents, children, and child care workers alike.

Earlier this week, the senators released a new "Broken Promises" report exposing how Republicans' policies have wreaked havoc on child care and harmed families across the country. The report detailed 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. This new 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.

Senator Warren has led the fight to make child care available and affordable for working families:

• In May 2026, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined the Center for American Progress' IDEAS Conference to deliver a speech on the need for universal child care.

• In March 2026, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), longtime leaders on child care, along with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.), established a new working group as the latest major push in Democrats' fight to lower costs and deliver child care for every American family.

• In March 2026, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani published an op-ed in USA Today calling for the Democratic party to commit to making universal child care a central part of its platform.

• In February 2026, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), along with Representative Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), led over 40 colleagues in pressing the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration for Children & Families (ACF) on how the Trump Administration's immigration policies are shrinking the child care workforce and driving up costs for American families.

• In February 2026, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, Ranking Member of the Committee Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned military leaders on the impact of poor barrack conditions and inadequate child care on service member morale and readiness.

• In February 2026, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) teamed up in the fight to deliver universal child care for American families.

• In February 2026, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) delivered opening remarks calling for improving the quality of military barracks, better pay for child care workers so military families can have the child care support they need, and tracking the impact of Republicans' health care cuts for service members and their families.

• In January 2026, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) led Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) in announcing a new investigation into how the Trump administration's cuts to affordable child care programs are affecting rural families.

• In September 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) led over forty lawmakers in reintroducing the Child Care for Every Community Act, legislation that would expand access to affordable child care to every American family, offer high-quality early education to every child, and create good jobs for our early educators.

• In May 2025, In a response to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) letter to the Department of Defense (DoD) demanding clarity on the department's plans to address allegations of child abuse in its Child Development Centers (CDCs), the DoD revealed a pattern of incompetence in its oversight of child care services.

###