Khanna launches childcare plan

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California is unveiling a nearly one trillion dollar proposal on Friday calling for universal childcare as he crafts policies for a potential 2028 presidential campaign.

The problem Khanna sees

Khanna told ABC News in a phone interview that childcare is the biggest issue facing American families. He wants to introduce the bill before midterm elections as a blueprint for what Congress should pass.

“The biggest thing killing us is childcare.”

The Free Child Care Act

The proposal is called the Free Child Care for America Act. It is a nearly one trillion dollar, ten-year package aimed at building a universal childcare system with three taxpayer-funded pathways to provide flexibility for American families.

How to pay for it

Khanna proposed several ways to offset the cost, including savings from ending the war in Iran, collecting four hundred billion dollars in new revenue through a five percent billionaire tax, or cutting the Pentagon's budget by two hundred billion dollars.

What the plan covers

Khanna's plan calls for billions in grants to states and tribal organizations to cover childcare costs for eligible families, increase childcare supply, support provider operating costs, and raise compensation for childcare workers.

The real price tag

Khanna said making childcare free requires an eighty to ninety billion dollar price tag over ten years. That is what it takes to pay childcare workers well and make the system flexible for families.

“If you want to do this right, it's going to be an $80 to $90 billion price tag.”

Contrasting with Vance plan

Vice President JD Vance has championed an administration proposal to expand federal childcare subsidies as much as nine thousand dollars annually to married couples who have a stay-at-home parent. Khanna said families should choose from a menu of options.

“It should be value neutral between staying at home, going to a childcare center, or having friends or family.”

Khanna's personal motivation

Khanna explained his middle-class upbringing in Bucks County, Pennsylvania motivated him to tackle childcare. As a father of two children working a demanding job, he said he has admiration for parents doing incredibly hard work.

Economic patriotism agenda

Khanna has dubbed his agenda America's next new deal. He said economic patriotism means making the future economy work not just for billionaires in his district but for people he grew up with in Pennsylvania.

Positioning for 2028

Khanna was first elected to represent California's seventeenth Congressional District in twenty sixteen. He is striving to position himself as a potential successor to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as the national progressive movement leader.

Building his profile

Khanna engages with voters across the country, sometimes on Fox News and in Republican-held districts. Last year he laid out a political reform agenda focused on combating corruption, hoping it would form the basis of Democrats' midterm platform.

Defending the cost

Khanna concedes some stakeholders have expressed concern over the one trillion dollar cost. The proposal would offer one thousand dollars per month to eligible stay-at-home parents with a child under age three and household income at or below one hundred percent of state median income.

Democratic leadership response

House Democratic leaders have not endorsed Khanna's childcare legislation but agree lowering childcare costs must be a priority if they take back the House majority. Khanna wants it front and center in the first one hundred days for the speaker.

Khanna's 2028 vision

Khanna said he is considering running for president in twenty twenty-eight. Whether he runs or supports other candidates, he wants to lead in putting forth bold ideas about what the Democratic Party should be for working and middle-class families.

“I want 2028 to be a big-ideas primary.”