Massachusetts lawmakers are pushing the federal government to increase its investment in child care, warning that flat or declining federal support has left tens of thousands of families on waitlists even as the state steps up its own spending.
On Apr. 24, 2026, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York visited Horizons for Homeless Children in Roxbury, Boston, alongside Mayor Michelle Wu, to call attention to the need for a stronger federal commitment to early childhood education.
During a roundtable with educators and a story hour with preschool-age children, the lawmakers urged Congress to treat child care as an essential national investment, according to the Boston Globe.
Providing Early Childhood Education
"Providing high-quality, accessible early childhood education is essential to the success of our babies, families, and communities," said Pressley, who called out President Donald Trump for prioritizing defense spending over child care.
Trump's proposed 2027 budget keeps Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant at flat funding levels while eliminating the Preschool Development Block Grant Birth through Five program. Trump has argued that child care is a responsibility for individual states, not the federal government.
The urgency behind the lawmakers' visit is tied directly to the end of pandemic-era federal relief. Congress had allocated $24 billion in child care stabilization funds through the American Rescue Plan Act, which began sunsetting in 2023.
Massachusetts became the only state in the country to fully replace that expired federal aid with its own money, continuing its Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) program and funding it at $475 million in both FY2025 and FY2026, MassBudget reported.
Despite that state commitment, more than 29,000 children remain on the waitlist for income-based child care financial assistance in Massachusetts, a figure that has not meaningfully improved because the available funding only covers families already receiving subsidies. The waitlist has been effectively frozen since March 2024, and state officials have said that current funding levels will not allow them to reopen it.
Head Start, a federally funded program serving low-income children, has lost 1,300 child slots in Massachusetts over the past three years as its federal funding has plateaued. The program is now asking the state for an additional $4.6 million in grants to keep up with rising costs.
Ocasio-Cortez said the federal government's reluctance to invest more in early education is damaging not just to families but to the broader economy. "The country is better when we invest in our children, when we invest in their care, when we invest in their parents," she said, as per WCVB. Wu echoed that message, noting that child care, housing, and workforce development are not separate issues.
Massachusetts loses an estimated $3 billion per year due to inadequate child care, according to a 2025 Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation report, which also found that the state's early education workforce continues to suffer from high turnover and low wages.
The same report noted that between 2020 and 2025, state funding for early education and care grew by $858 million, a 125 percent increase, reflecting how much the state has been forced to compensate for the absence of sustained federal investment.
