Given the close presidential race, reflecting on future legislative priorities in 2025 may sound premature. But Kamala Harris has signaled strongly that, if elected, one of her top priorities would be the set of policies grouped together as the care economy. This includes child care, early-childhood education, paid family and medical leave, and in-home support services for people with disabilities or the elderly.
A combination of investments and public programs have been proposed to either improve affordability and access for people needing caregiving, ensure living-wage careers for caregivers, or both. “It does feel like the stars are aligning and that this is the care ticket,” said Ai-jen Poo, director of Caring Across Generations, one of the major advocates for this agenda. Not only has Harris demonstrated support for these items, including during the Build Back Better fight.
But in addition, Gov. Tim Walz in Minnesota, with the same kind of thin legislative majority as Harris would likely face if she wins a governing trifecta. He has sold those policies as , which has been effective.
“Harris and Walz have the receipts that go back decades. Constituents and voters can be assured that they are walking the talk,” said Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director of MomsRising. Joe Biden also put an emphasis on care work in his 2020 run for the White House.
In the end, that agenda could not break past familiar hurdles to legislative success. What are care economy advoc.