Dan Feehan: People over politics, it’s time to fight for affordable childcare
Over the last three weeks, our campaign has visited with community members from Worthington to Winona. The challenges facing each town across southern Minnesota are unique and the solutions are not uniform, but I keep hearing from families about one issue in particular: there’s a growing demand for affordable, high-quality childcare close to home, an issue which is deeply personal to me.
Recently, my wife Amy and I welcomed our third child into the world, Maeve Macaria Feehan. Like many families in southern Minnesota, this meant looking for affordable childcare. While Amy was pregnant, we were worried about securing a spot in daycare before we even chose Maeve's name. Minnesota is the third most expensive state for childcare in the entire country and this is a reality that parents, children, and childcare providers across southern Minnesota know all too well. They deserve a representative who will go to Washington in search of solutions. Unfortunately, we don’t have that right now.
At a recent town hall in Luverne, Mayor Pat Baustian told Congressman Hagedorn that his community is seeing a lack of growth because there isn't enough quality, affordable childcare for families who want to move there. I was disappointed to read in The Worthington Globe last week that “while [Representative Hagedorn] acknowledged that the childcare shortage is a crisis, the Congressman did not offer a solution.”
For years, working families have needed relief from the high and rising cost of childcare. Furthermore, small businesses have needed a solution to attract and retain employees. Congress’s refusal to act is hurting hardworking families and the economic vitality of southern Minnesota, and that must change. By putting people ahead of politics, we can find bipartisan solutions to help working families and strengthen our communities. First and foremost, I will fight to increase the child tax credit to provide direct relief for working families. I will advocate for paid family leave so that new parents can spend time with and take care of their newborns. I know firsthand how important that is. I will push to expand early childhood education as a pathway that gives our children a leg up on their futures.
Furthermore, we must increase the supply of high-quality childcare providers and ensure that those providing this critical service have a living wage. That is why I will work to expand tax credits to help ensure that existing, high-quality providers can increase wages for their employees. I am committed to working with communities to expand existing grant programs to help new providers enter the space with the resources they need to create a safe and enriching environment for all of our children.
For my newborn daughter, my two sons, and the hundreds of thousands of other families across southern Minnesota, I’m committed to ensuring that everyone’s childcare is affordable, accessible, and high-quality, and I will fight for this every day in Congress.
Dan Feehan is a Democratic candidate for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District.
