US childcare is also notoriously patchy. High earners likely drive the high and increasing cost of childcare, because they seek out and are willing to pay for higher quality options. But poorer families, while they pay less, are also less well-served. High childcare costs, it has been suggested, are a factor in Americans having fewer children or even foregoing them completely.

The Massachusetts senator spoke about the day her aunt, hearing that Warren was about to quit her early and beloved teaching job because she couldn’t make it work with childcare, offered to come and help, then stayed for 16 years. “I get to be here tonight because of my Aunt Bee,” Warren said. “And yet here we are, two generations of working parents later, and if you have a baby and you don’t have an Aunt Bee, you’re on your own.”

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