VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — When it comes to child care, there is a national security component. If troops are worried about their kids, they're not focused on their mission.
With more than 76,000 children enrolled, the Department of Defense operates the largest employer-sponsored childcare program in the U.S.
But accessibility and affordability remain challenges for them, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) met Monday with Navy parents at Naval Air Station Oceana whose children are enrolled in Navy child care. They're very pleased, but they spoke about what it was like when they were on the waiting list, which today at stands 1,400.
"One of the sailors said, 'I have to be really good at my job. If part of my mind is on, I don't think my kid is in a safe place today, I'm not focused on my job,'" he said.
Kaine believes his "Child Care for Working Families Act" can help.
It is intended to lower childcare costs for families and raise wages for childcare providers in the private sector.
Under the bill, a typical family earning the state median income will pay about $10 a day for child care, and no working family will pay more than 7% of their income on child care.
Improving civilian child care would give military families more options.
"There is no one answer to this. What you need to do is expand child development centers on bases, but also provide more resources for child care in the community," he said.
The Center for Law and Social Policy's analysis predicted that Kaine's bill would expand childcare access to one million children.