First Lady Jill Biden touts federal child care spending during Minneapolis stop

Shawnice Walls was trying to do it all on her own: working, going to school and raising kids.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the child-care she relied on to make it all happen was gone. The mother of two says state, county and nonprofit aid enabled her to provide for her family, pay for child-care once it reopened and finish her associates' degree.

"The state, the government — they're the ones that really had my back through all of this," Walls said.

Walls told her story Wednesday as she sat in a Minneapolis classroom beside First Lady Jill Biden, who visited the University of Minnesota's Child Development Laboratory School to tout federal child-care investments through the American Rescue Plan. Alongside U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota and Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz, Biden also touted the potential for more aid through the Build Back Better Act, which remains stalled in Congress.

"We all know it. There's a lot more to do," said Biden, a longtime educator. "The challenges families face didn't just start with COVID-19, and we need fundamental changes if we hope to build back better than before."

As a result of the pandemic, child-care providers have experienced both enrollment declines and increased costs, and families have struggled to find affordable care for their children.

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in March, included $39 billion in child-care relief funds. Minnesota's share was more than $500 million, and the Legislature created a grant program expected to last until June 2023.

The $2 trillion Build Back Better Act would allocate $400 billion to initiatives including limiting child-care costs, increasing access to free preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds and expanding the child tax credit.

The Child Development Laboratory School that, according to a Walz spokesperson, received about $77,000 in government aid was quiet Wednesday, though there were signs of the children who spend their days there: small wooden chairs arranged in a semicircle for the group of visitors; picture books displayed on a shelf; boots and jackets lined up neatly in cubbies.

"I'm guessing this is the cleanest this room has ever been before," Flanagan joked.

Biden and Becerra arrived Wednesday afternoon at Minneapolis−St. Paul International Airport, where they met medical staff from Abbott Northwestern Hospital, members of a Federal COVID-19 surge response team and a group of elected officials including Walz, Omar, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter.

Biden visited Minnesota multiple times in 2020 on behalf of her husband's presidential campaign. Education has been a focus for the first lady, who on Wednesday described the anxiety one of her community college students experienced when her child-care fell through and she had to bring her 4-year-old son to class.

"Moms just do what we have to do, don't we?" Biden said.

This legislative session, during which lawmakers will grapple with how to divvy up an estimated $7.7 billion surplus, Walz and House DFLers are pushing for changes to make child-care more affordable, as well as for a statewide program for paid family and medical leave. They also want to spend $1 billion on bonuses for frontline workers including child-care providers, who Walz on Wednesday described as "the economic engine behind the rest of the economy."

Those proposals already are facing pushback from Republicans, who say tax cuts are the best way to help families and businesses.

Both the Republican National Committee and Minnesota GOP issued critical statements related to the first lady's visit.

"President Biden, Gov. Walz and Democrat leaders have pursued a reckless, government spending spree to buy votes," Minnesota GOP Chair David Hann said in a statement. "It's nice that the governor is going to discuss child care with Jill Biden, but is this really where our focus should be? Now is not the time for political photo-ops."

But Walz said he believes there's common ground to be found.

"This has the potential to be one of the most unifying issues that we deal with," he said. "Every family values their children."