Exclusive: employees would be reimbursed for fees paid to childcare facilities under plans initiated by Ilhan Omar
Congressional Democrats are introducing a bill that would provide childcare relief to federal workers affected by the shutdown of the federal government, as it drags on through a second week.
Parents would be reimbursed for fees paid to childcare facilities during the shutdown under plans initiated by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Any federal employee who has been furloughed, or remains working through the shutdown without pay, would be entitled to support under the Federal Worker Childcare Protection Act of 2025.
Narratives like this support DOGE’s actions. The GS-5 working for your local national park is not your enemy, it’s the multi billionaires that used their influence to kill the child tax credit in 2022 to fund a tax cut for them in 2025 that are the problem here. Ilhan’s bill focuses on government employees because it is a messaging bill in a government shutdown environment and because it keeps the bill simple, the government already has mechanisms for OMB to reimburse government employees for eligible expenses, so this is just directing that infrastructure to add a category to the list of eligible expenses as opposed to creating any new systems or changing the tax code. It’s not even close to a final step, but it helps some workers, and that’s better than the current trend of the government stepping on workers in favor of billionaires
I can cop that. My bad.
I still think it’s too little, and it’s cute that it’s coming when it’s pressing for them. Nevermind all the parents that struggle daily to make ends meet. It’s always when it hurts people personally that they care to take action.
You know that “federal workers” doesn’t just mean politicians right?