Moriah Balingit

FILE – President Donald Trump colors during a visit with a group of children at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Aug. 24, 2018, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Trump’s BBB scraps many childhood benefits in favor of a check for $1,000 for every American kid

By Moriah Balingit and The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 09: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Invest America Roundtable in the State Dinning room at the White House on June 09, 2025 in Washington, DC. At the roundtable event President Trump, lawmakers and a group of CEOs announced plans for the “Trump Account” investments for kids which would deposit $1,000 in an investment accounts for newborn Americans. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump wants $1,000 investment accounts to help newborn Americans get a ‘big jump on life.’ Critics say poor families have more immediate needs

By Moriah Balingit and The Associated Press

FILE – Delaney Griffin, center, plays with toddlers at the child care center where she works, March 13, 2024, in Lexington, Ky. (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan, File)

A mother earning $16.50 an hour says paying $1,200 a month for child care is ‘barely survivable’—and Trump’s tariffs could make it worse

By Moriah Balingit and The Associated Press

FILE – Family Educator Lisa Benson-Nuyen, addresses her students in a circle in the Northern Lights classroom at the Meadow Lakes CCS Early Learning, a Head Start center, Monday, May 6, 2024, in Wasilla, Alaska. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

DOGE could worsen America’s child care crisis with cuts to programs: ‘You could almost feel the wave of panic’

By Moriah Balingit and The Associated Press

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks at the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Trump federal money freeze causes problems at Head Start and Medicaid services for needy families and children

By Moriah Balingit and The Associated Press

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., left, wears a bandage on his face and wrist as he walks to cast a vote on the Senate floor after falling during a luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Mitch McConnell says Trump nominees should ‘steer clear’ of trying to discredit vaccine for polio, a disease he had as a child

By Moriah Balingit and The Associated Press

Marisshia Sigala secures her son Mateo in his car seat after picking him up after work from the Koala Children’s Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Like most other New Mexico families, Sigala and her husband qualify for subsidized child care in New Mexico, providing them more flexibility to see more clients as they build their careers. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

32-year-old mother who dropped out of the workforce is back as state starts funding day care with oil lease money: ‘It’s been a blessing for us’

By Moriah Balingit, Susan Montoya Bryan, and others

Joe Biden

Biden never forgot ‘Build Back Better.’ Top aide says he has ‘unfinished business’ to crack the childcare crisis and help the sandwich generation

By Chris Megerian, Moriah Balingit, and others

Multi-tasking mum

$2,000 a month childcare costs are driving moms without college degrees out of the workforce: ‘I really didn’t want to quit’

By Moriah Balingit, Sharon Lurye, and others

FILE – Rep. Emily O’Brien R-Grand Forks carries daughter Jolene Green, 3 weeks, into the House chamber, Dec. 6, 2022, in Bismarck, N.D. Last year, the state representative helped persuade her colleagues to approve $66 million in child care spending proposed by Gov. Doug Burnum, a Republican. O’Brien argued it could help the state’s workforce shortage by helping more parents go to work. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)

Now Republican states are backing child care spending, saying it can ease workforce shortages by helping parents go back to work: ‘Child care is a critical infrastructure’

By Moriah Balingit and The Associated Press