During the pandemic, the chorus of voices calling child care an essential service was finally heard above the din. However, the unfortunate reality is that the child care business model was broken long before COVID-19 arrived. Poverty-level wages and unaffordable access for families have long been an accepted norm in our nation’s fragmented child care system.

Sweeping legislation under consideration could address the inequities that have plagued the sector for decades. But without careful implementation, Congress may be recreating a broken child care model and essentially slapping a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.