President Biden’s ambitious child care plan will be “challenging to implement,” Writes Andrew Prokop on Vox.

If the $185 trillion Build Back Better Act passes, the federal government will subsidize child care, mandate higher pay for child-care workers and fund new facilities.

But the plan could “drive up prices for many parents, and may lead to a shortage of licensed child care options as millions of parents enter an already-crowded market for the first time,” writes Prokop. Middle- and upper-middle-class parents, who’ll have to wait years for a subsidy, will pay a lot more.

The bill includes money for new facilities, but “ramping up supply is easier said than done,” Prokop notes. In addition to expanding space for child care, federal aid will have to fund hiring, training and retaining new staff.

“I’ve looked at a number of government programs over the years and usually I think there’s a way to make them work,” says Marc Goldwein of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “This one I worry about.”

States may opt out rather than pick up some of the costs, starting in 2025. The federal spending ends in 2027, unless a future president and Congress pass a new law extending it.

Adding even more regulations will drive up child-care costs and restrict availability, writes Veronique De Rugy on Reason.

The bill requires paying child-care workers wages “equivalent” to salaries “for elementary educators with similar credentials and experience.”

(University of Chicago economist Casey) Mulligan notes that “elementary-school teachers earned an average of $63,930 annually in 2019, compared with $25,510 for child-care workers. By that benchmark, child-care facilities would need to pay workers 151% more.” Matt Bruenig, founder of the left-leaning People’s Policy Project, made the similar point that if child care workers were paid like teachers, it would increase middle-class child care costs by $13,000 per year.

The child-care subsidies also incentivize single parenthood, writes De Rugy. “That’s because a dad’s income only counts against the child care subsidies received by a mother if they are legally part of the family, and vice versa.”

Faith-based programs will be excluded unless they can meet a slew of federal regulations, writes Max Eden in Newsweek. For example, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) may require “costly physical renovations,” he writes. Yet the law excludes church-based centers for federal facilities aid offered to secular programs.