Progressive plan proposes free child care or monthly family stipend

A progressive policy project aimed at shaping Democratic agendas is proposing that the next U.S. president back universal public child care or a monthly payment for families who do not use it, Bloomberg reported. The idea would put a large federal role behind one of the most expensive parts of raising young children.

The proposal is part of Project 2029, a package of recommendations from think tanks, former Democratic staff members and other progressive figures, according to Bloomberg. The effort is led by Chad Maisel, a former adviser to President Joseph Biden and Sen. Cory Booker who is now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

How the plan would work

Under the proposal, the federal government would give families two options for each child under age 5, Bloomberg reported. Families could choose a free slot in a public child-care program or receive $1,000 a month to help cover costs tied to care by a parent or relative.

The plan says states would build networks of approved providers, according to Bloomberg. Those networks could include neighborhood child-care centers, schools, faith-based sites and home-based providers.

The free child-care seats would be open to children across income levels, Bloomberg reported. The monthly stipend would be limited to families earning less than $400,000 a year, according to the plan.

Project 2029 takes its name as a counterpoint to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s conservative policy manual, Bloomberg reported. Its child-care proposal signals an attempt by progressive policy writers to put the issue near the center of a future Democratic platform.

Tara McGuinness, a co-author of the plan and founder of a research lab at the New America Foundation, told Bloomberg that expanding child-care capacity would require serious federal spending. She said high-quality care cannot be provided cheaply.

Costs and politics

The national average annual price of child care reached $13,184 per child in 2025, up 23% from four years earlier, according to Child Care Aware of America. The Project 2029 authors estimate their proposal would cost about as much as the $200 billion in income, productivity and tax revenue they say is lost each year because of child-care problems, Bloomberg reported.

The proposal combines two approaches often associated with different parts of the political spectrum, according to Bloomberg. Progressive lawmakers have tended to favor public child-care systems, while conservative proposals have more often centered on tax credits or direct financial help for families.

Polling suggests broad support for federal help with care for young children. In an Associated Press/NORC survey last year, 64% of respondents said they wanted the federal government to provide free or low-cost day care for children who are too young for public school, including 76% of Democrats and 51% of Republicans.

Bloomberg reported that free universal child care was also a major plank in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign. The inclusion of the issue in Project 2029 indicates that Democratic policy advocates see child care as a strong political issue, according to Bloomberg.

Some states and local governments have already expanded early-childhood programs. New Mexico last year became the first state to put in place a child-care plan for all, funded by investment earnings from a state sovereign wealth fund, though Bloomberg reported that access is not yet universal.

The District of Columbia’s universal pre-K programs enrolled 82% of 3-year-olds and 94% of 4-year-olds in 2024, according to district data cited by Bloomberg. Republican-controlled states including Louisiana and Tennessee have also taken recent steps to expand some early education programs, Bloomberg reported.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.