On March 9, President Biden released his budget plan for the 2024 fiscal year. In the three paragraphs dedicated to childcare, Biden proposed expanding federal funding for day care and early childhood education by billions of dollars and advancing toward free preschool for all four million four-year-olds in the United States. The Biden administration wants to inject $22.1 billion into existing early care and education programs, up 10.5 percent from the 2023 enacted level, including $9 billion for federal block grants.

This money is welcome and would help buoy childcare providers after a long period of intense crisis. But the Democratic proposal has two major shortcomings. First, the practical: Republicans hold the House of Representatives. Last year, even when conditions were more favorable for the Biden administration and the president was calling childcare “a cornerstone of his economic policy agenda,” a similar proposal circulated in Congress only for Democrats to remove it during budget negotiations.

Second, and more substantively: the proposal’s implementation would depend on how effectively the funding is distributed, managed, and sustained over time. It would require coordination between federal, state, and local agencies, and partnerships with providers to ensure that children received high-quality care and that families could access the programs they need.