Would LOVE if we could all stop talking about public policies to encourage higher birth rates, and instead push for public policies that ensure children are happy, safe, valued members of society!

Important new brief from @rooseveltinstitute.org out today from Jessica Forden on the impact of the US’s lack of a public long-term care system on low- and middle-income families. The need for long term care is simply a part of life, and a perfect example of something that should be a public good.

This is so cool.

The U.S.’s privatized, patchwork childcare system isn’t inevitable. It’s the result of political choices, rooted in austerity and fiscal conservatism, dating back to the 1970s.

More from our Fellow @jessicacalarco.com ⬇️

This as states wrestle with abandoning optional HCBS and the rural hospital system nears implosion. Both due to HR 1. (not "big pharma," Mr. Platner)

Tradwife movement ‘attracts men who are hostile to women’ The strongest predictor of support for women staying at home and deferring to their husband is not, as researchers expected, chivalry but ‘hostile sexism’

"Among young American men, the strongest predictor of support for the tradwife lifestyle was not gallantry but hostility towards women"

Apparently this is not what researchers "expected". Which makes one wonder: had these researchers thought about it for 30 seconds?
www.thetimes.com/life-style/s...

Thrilled to have this paper out in the world. We can't restore democracy without restoring faith in its ability to deliver for people. Public options are part of the toolkit we need to do that.

I'm so heartened & fired up that this piece from
@mayor.nyc.gov & @warren.senate.gov on childcare is so aligned w/ @rooseveltinstitute.org 's research on how to build a public childcare system; from childcare as public infrastructure, to investing in childcare workers. tinyurl.com/4v3h2kk3

Excited to announce the launch of my fellow, Jamie Keene's new report! The Social Security Act represent a template for a strong welfare state, one that continued to expand in scope until Reaganism upended the progress we had made. The work is not yet done. Keene explains how to get back on track.

Important 🧵 from our Director for Corporate Power @bradlipton.bsky.social on little-known "rent-a-bank" schemes, how they're enabling predatory lending even in states that have imposed limits, and what they show about failed federal banking regulation ⬇️

The Collective Power of Childcare Workers and Their Communities: A Case Study of California Lena Bilik explores the US childcare crisis as a labor issue and—through a California case study—highlights how organizing childcare workers can build power and win universal, publicly funded childcar...

I explored this potential in California in my recent brief for @rooseveltinstitute.org . I suspect this will become more and more of a conversation as states realize the gap between the funding they have, and the need to provide childcare as a public good. rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Universal child care needs new taxes at the top When Mayor Mamdani rolled out his preliminary budget, he made the trade‑offs painfully clear. New York is staring down a $5.5 billion shortfall. He said that we can either raise property taxes, or …

Love to see it!

www.nydailynews.com/2026/03/09/u...

Social Security's shortfall isn’t about demographics, as some would have you believe. The real issue is decades of rising income inequality, compounded by policy choices that have shrunk the share of wages that are taxed to pay for the program.

We do this discourse over and over. Lot of Americans love the idea of a Scandinavian safety net but don't love the idea of paying for it. So we tell stories about how we can tax just "the rich" to get there. And that is not how math works.

Why Does Child Care Seem Less Affordable Than Ever?

Child care costs are rising faster than inflation—up 8% since mid-2024—and in some states now exceed in-state college tuition. Yet many providers earn $13/hour and operate on razor-thin margins.

Both families and workers are suffering under a broken system.

Health Care Has Become the Lifeblood of the Labor Market

Fascinating care work story here. Lately been thinking a lot about how some of the most necessary & growing jobs (all in care; elder/home care, nursing) are some of the lowest paid, but also some of the LEAST replaceable by AI. We quite literally must value these workers more. shorturl.at/WR16r

Excited to see our CEO, @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social , get to meet with @mayor.nyc.gov - two people so committed to the nitty gritty work of HOW government can truly deliver for working people. #RooseveltSociety

When we talk about child care, we need to talk about paid leave • Indiana Capital Chronicle We don’t often talk about child care and paid parental leave in the same conversation when it comes to public policy.

So appreciate seeing this...Paid leave and universal childcare should be much more connected in our policy discussions.

indianacapitalchronicle.com/2026/03/03/w...

My latest brief for Roosevelt Institute: Let's remember that childcare is a labor issue- not only for working parents, but childcare workers who do this work for poverty wages. Collective bargaining and labor power can help us win what we all need on childcare: rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

@cscce.bsky.social

52 Ways Federal Actions Hurt Early Childhood Educators in 2025 - Center for the Study of Child Care Employment Low pay and poor working conditions are embedded in our current child care system, which relies on undervaluing the labor of women, particularly women of color.

Incredibly useful and deeply disheartening breakdown of the various ways this administration has hurt childcare workers. Part of any childcare policy plan going forward must address the harm done to this workforce in recent years, on TOP of decades of them being so undervalued.
shorturl.at/9d7W7

Childcare has long been left out of convos on affordability partially because it's an issue that impacts the short-and-long term economic security of WOMEN in particular. Meanwhile, childcare costs more than housing in most of the country. Exciting to see it included in these convos more & more.

How to Reduce Poverty Among SSI Recipients: Modeling the Impact of the SSI Restoration Act Over the last year my colleague Jack Landry and I have been working to quantify the impacts and costs of a family of policy proposals meant to reform the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, a ...

As promised, today @rooseveltinstitute.org releases a blog post previewing our topline findings from @jacklandry.bsky.social and my upcoming paper analyzing the impacts and costs of the SSI Restoration act of 2024!

rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/how-to-...

This whole thing where billionaires snap up media properties so they can run them into the ground to make it harder for people to call them and their cronies to account is extremely obvious and very tiresome. It also limits our access to largr information about culture and the world, also by design.

What aging adults need is a public insurance system that covers long-term care, home & community based services, & a well-paid care workforce. It's quite literally like this admin considers a policy that would actually benefit people, and goes, "ok cool, let's do the exact opposite of that."

Caregivers for the elderly could lose wage protections under Trump proposal The Labor Department has proposed rescinding an Obama-era rule that gave home care workers the right to overtime pay and other wage protections. The administration says the rule made care too costly.

This is not only callous, but an insanely illogical thing to do in the face of our rapidly aging population...Poverty wages have already created a massive elder care workforce shortage. Making that worse + the Medicaid cuts will be disastrous for aging adults and their families. shorturl.at/ev6C3

We live in a country that is currently starving and cutting programs and services for young children to grow, learn, and thrive, & instead is choosing to fund a secret police to literally terrorize young children and their families. Words can't describe the shame we should feel.

Is Universal Childcare the Democrats’ Winning Issue This Year? The policy is catching fire in the party as a key plank in addressing the affordability crisis. The question is whether it will motivate midterm voters this fall.

Spoke to @newrepublic.com re: childcare, & you'll hear me say this again, until we get a childcare system that works for families AND workers:
“In order to expand a childcare system to be even close to universal, you have to improve pay and benefits for the workforce,” Bilik said. shorturl.at/GT1Tn

Roosevelt Institute Welcomes 2026 Class of Think Tank Fellows Today, the Roosevelt Institute announced its winter 2026 cohort of think tank fellows—a group of scholars, policymakers, and public intellectuals whose work collectively advances a democratic vision f...

🎊 Exciting news: We’re proud to introduce our 2026 cohort of think tank fellows!

This inspiring group will help advance our #GoodLife vision of shared prosperity and power for working people.

Meet the new Roosevelters ⬇️

'Why aren't they in the streets' is answered almost every day in my small town by people in the streets! Rather than asking 'why aren't they in the streets' it's worth asking 'why isn't your media showing them in the streets' and 'who is served by downplaying resistane in its myriad forms.'