Childcare Reform Act (Debating)

[Talleyrand]

I have a question. In the US, when children go to school for the first time?

They're mandated to start Kindergarten at age five, but many parents place their children in daycare and later pre-kindergarten programs before then.

I also oppose the amendment; this isn't a really big sum in the large scheme of things, and more importantly, it's being used for a very worthy cause... I don't think we need to cut down on percentages or total funds allocated just for the heck of it.

[Talleyrand]

I'm not really a fan for having a surplus for the sake of having a surplus, and I think we could probably find some other areas to cut in to account for this if we decided to pursue that route. I think we should be okay on this one.

[Talleyrand]

Yeah, I'm still fine with this assuming the cost estimates from Bore or Cranberry are correct. We shouldn't get obsessive about maintaining the budget surplus and throw aside a great bill like this one in the process. If that really is a top priority, then (once again) I am sure there's some silly appropriation or some older law we can remove from the books.

And I think if we were to pursue an alternative route, subsidizing decent, reasonable-cost childcare providers would be a better route than a tax credit.

[Talleyrand]

$50 billion should be a reasonable first estimate, I'd presume.

[Talleyrand]

AYE

[Talleyrand]

I think that we should be more cautious. No Atlasian child should grow up in poverty, but we have a basic income for that. As long as social programs are sufficient to guarantee that Atlasian families are materially secure, why should we want all parents to work?

Of course it's easy to characterize the assumptions behind this question as backwards and sexist, but that's not the sense in which I ask  it. Whether it is mothers who fathers who choose to stay at home, that's not the point. What concerns me is the implicit assumption behind this legislation, i.e. the assumption that every functioning adult should hold a job and that failing to commodify one's labor is deviant behavior and somehow less respectable than other forms of work, like caring for one's own children.

At the very least, if we're going to subsidize childcare heavily for families in which both parents work, we ought to do something that will provide a commensurate benefit to families in which a parent stays at home to raise their children.

What exactly would you propose for that then?

[Talleyrand]

Yes, it's pretty clear that the bureaucrats administering this would choose adequate, affordable childcare, not the luxury ones or their like. I'm willing to allocate the funds (which we've already reduced in amount) if it means making it easier for families to work without having to constantly worry about their children.

[Talleyrand]

Or you could just include a provision forcing the federal DoIA to set the guidelines for that.

[Talleyrand]

So where exactly are we at with this?