This week, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin announced that he was revoking his support for President Biden’s Build Back Better economic and climate agenda, the product of months of negotiations between moderates and progressives. The announcement caused multiple economic forecasters to immediately downgrade their projections for economic growth and America’s historic jobs recovery in 2022.
One of the key drivers behind these downgrades is certainly the failure to pass the proposal’s desperately needed investments in America’s child care system. As President Biden and leaders in Congress work to resuscitate the proposal, its early learning investments—both child care and universal preschool—cannot be left on the cutting room floor. Indeed, Senator Manchin’s own statements suggest these policies could help persuade him to return to the negotiating table.
The above excerpt was originally published in Newsweek.
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