美国国家公共电台 NPR Exclusive: White House And Ivanka Trump Propose New Spending On Child Care

Exclusive: White House And Ivanka Trump¹ Propose New Spending On Child Care

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Back to this country now - the federal budget President Trump proposes today includes a line for child care. The proposal to increase funding is a priority of the president's daughter and adviser² Ivanka Trump. Here's NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith.

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IVANKA TRUMP: How's everyone doing?

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Great.

TRUMP: Good. Well, thank you all for being here.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE³: On a recent afternoon, Ivanka Trump led a discussion in the White House with more than a dozen people who specialize in child care.

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TRUMP: As we think about how to address an ever-growing challenge in this country, which is access to safe, affordable⁴ child care for...

KEITH: NPR was invited to the listening session and given early details of a child care proposal from a Ivanka Trump included in the president's 2020 budget. The centerpiece is a one-time investment of $1 billion to increase the supply of child care. States would apply for funding and could use it to encourage employers, large and small, to invest in child care or to support child care providers that operate during nontraditional work hours. To get the money, states would have to cut regulations that limit supply or increase cost.

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TRUMP: We are doing a lot. But it's not perfect still.

KEITH: Here are some of the challenges that Trump and the experts she met with identified in that White House meeting. The early years are critical for brain development, but quality, safe, affordable child care is often hard to come by. There are mile-long waitlists for care that, for many families, costs more than their housing. And yet, a lot of child care workers can't make ends meet. Trump described it as a market failure.

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TRUMP: The system's just broken. And we're trying to intervene and fix it in every way we can.

KEITH: As Trump talked about the challenges, she framed it in a way Democrats⁵ have for years - not as a mom's problem or a family's problem but as an impediment to economic growth.

Chad Dunkley is CEO of New Horizon Academy, a child care provider. He attended the listening session and has advocated for more child care funding on Capitol Hill.

CHAD DUNKLEY: I think there's a growing bipartisan consensus⁷ that we have to do more to build the financial security of young families in this country. They have to feel confident they can grow their families here. And if they don't, our economy is going to be in trouble.

KEITH: He says you can already see the strain in low birth rates and stalled labor⁸ force participation⁹. Presidential budget proposals are policy statements frequently ignored by Congress. So in a way, this is Ivanka Trump and the White House signaling they want to be part of a larger conversation that's happening in the business world and in politics. The new White House proposal comes as child care is already a 2020 campaign issue, with Democratic candidates - including Elizabeth Warren - rolling out child-care-for-all plans.

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ELIZABETH WARREN: That's why, for millions of families who need it, access to these child care options will be free.

KEITH: And in Congress, there are multiple child care bills from Democrats. The price tag on these plans runs tens of billions of dollars each year, vastly more than the White House proposal. A White House official described the Democratic plans as unsustainably expensive and said Ivanka Trump sees her role as an advocate for producing legislation that actually has a viable¹⁰ path forward. Senator Patty Murray from Washington state, a leading Democrat⁶ on this issue, was polite when asked if she could work with Ivanka Trump on this.

PATTY MURRAY: If it's real and it isn't just a Band-Aid and it actually does provide real child care for folks who need it.

KEITH: There's lots of agreement on the problems. Solutions - not yet.

Tamara Keith, NPR News, the White House.

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1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

5 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

7 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

10 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。