Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna is unveiling an formidable almost $1 trillion proposal on Friday calling for common childcare as he continues crafting legislative insurance policies which will finally function the cornerstones of a possible presidential marketing campaign in 2028.
“The most important factor killing us is childcare,” Khanna, who represents California, informed ABC Information in a telephone interview whereas he crisscrosses the nation campaigning for reelection forward of the midterm elections.
Rep. Ro Khanna speaks throughout a marketing campaign occasion with Tom Steyer, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for California in Santa Rosa, Calif., Might 27, 2026.
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures
In an unique interview with ABC Information, Khanna stated he needed to introduce a childcare invoice earlier than the high-stakes midterm elections as a “north star” and blueprint for “what we must be passing.”
The Free Little one Take care of America Act is an almost $1 trillion, 10-year package deal geared toward constructing a common childcare system — creating three taxpayer-funded pathways to supply flexibility and choices for American households.
Khanna ticked off a number of potential spending reductions to offset the price of the $1 trillion package deal — equivalent to financial savings realized by ending the conflict in Iran; $400 billion in new income collected by instituting a 5% “billionaire tax,” or slicing the Pentagon’s finances by $200 billion.
“What this childcare proposal — for my part — is chatting with [is] the wants of working class households, and it is one thing we are able to ship,” he stated.
Khanna’s plan requires billions of {dollars} that funds grants for states and tribal organizations to cowl the price of licensed childcare for eligible households, goals to extend the availability of childcare, assist suppliers’ working prices, and lift compensation throughout the childcare workforce.
“If you wish to do that proper, it’ll be an $80 to $90 billion price ticket,” Khanna stated. “That is what it takes to make childcare free. That is what it takes to pay individuals properly, and that is what it’ll take to make it versatile.”
His pitch comes as Vice President JD Vance has championed an administration proposal to develop federal childcare subsidies — as a lot as $9,000 yearly — to married {couples} who’ve a stay-at-home guardian.
Khanna stated he believes households ought to be capable to select from a menu of childcare choices.
“It must be worth impartial between staying at residence, going to a childcare heart, or having buddies or household, and that’s maximizing the selection,” Khanna stated. “Vance’s proposal is attempting to tip the scales a bit on the selection of people who find themselves stay-at-home dad and mom.”
Rep. Ro Khanna departs following a vote on the Capitol, July 22, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures
Khanna defined his middle-class upbringing in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, motivated him to deal with the problem of childcare.
“Childcare is a type of issues that did not have the identical exorbitant value, and if we are able to repair that concern, present individuals with childcare, you’re going to present extra People the shot to have financial safety in a contemporary financial system, and that’s the entire level of financial patriotism: that individuals ought to be capable to have financial independence in in the present day’s financial system,” he stated.
The five-term congressman, whose net-worth is estimated to be within the a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, defined how his personal expertise as a father of two kids whereas working a demanding job has knowledgeable his perspective.
“I consider there’s nothing extra essential than being there for youths at a younger age, and I’ve a rare spouse who’s an distinctive mother,” Khanna stated. “It has given me an admiration for fogeys who do extremely, extremely exhausting work, and my view is that we have to make it doable for fogeys who wish to give their children the perfect capacity to do this.”
Khanna says that his agenda — which he has dubbed “America’s subsequent new deal” — can also be knowledgeable via his conversations with households in swing states. Khanna has been holding city halls and taking part in marketing campaign occasions in swing states alongside progressive candidates.
“Financial patriotism is all about making the long run financial system work — not only for the billionaires in my district, however work for the individuals I grew up with in Pennsylvania,” he stated. “As I traveled across the nation, and I began with like, ‘How will we carry good jobs?’ I saved listening to, ‘Effectively, that is fantastic, however how am I going to deal with our youngsters and do these jobs?'”
First elected to characterize California’s seventeenth Congressional District in 2016 — the identical election President Donald Trump first received the White Home — Khanna has constructed a progressive voting file coupled with savvy media engagement. Whereas Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has led the nationwide progressive motion over the previous decade, Khanna is striving to place himself as a possible successor — although he isn’t breaking via any Democratic main polls for 2028 up to now.
Khanna’s profile continues to develop as he engages with voters and weighs his future choices — typically even earlier than Republican audiences on Fox Information or in GOP-held districts. Final 12 months, he laid out a political reform agenda centered on combating corruption — hoping it could kind the premise of the Democrats’ platform within the upcoming midterm elections. He additionally took heart stage alongside GOP Rep. Thomas Massie within the congressional effort to pressure the Division of Justice to launch tens of 1000’s of information associated to its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
Forward of the midterms, Khanna continues to marketing campaign on behalf of candidates throughout the nation — although he is not coy about his political ambitions.
“I would like 2028 to be a big-ideas main,” Khanna stated. “I would like it to be a contest on who’s going to have concepts of the long run that meet the second the place many People really feel that the financial and political system are damaged and never working for them.”
Khanna concedes that some stakeholders and supporters alike have expressed concern over the $1 trillion value of his proposal, which might supply $1,000 per 30 days to eligible stay-at-home dad and mom with an eligible little one underneath age 3 and a family revenue at or under 100% of their state’s median revenue. However he says he’s being clear about the price and argues that his package deal is definitely worth the funding.
“Why would you assume that giving entrusting the care of younger individuals at their most impressionable, the place their expertise goes to form the remainder of their lives, and we’ve knowledge exhibiting that? Why would we predict that that is low-cost?” Khanna stated. “After all, it is costly, and that is why there’s this enormous market failure as a result of it is costly, and but individuals aren’t being paid appropriately, and that is why it is a public good. And so that is actually saying, OK, if you wish to do that proper, it’ll be a $80 to $90 billion price ticket. That is what it takes to make childcare free.”
Home Democratic leaders haven’t endorsed Khanna’s childcare laws, however agree that reducing childcare prices should be a precedence in the event that they take again the Home majority.
“I would like it to be entrance and heart within the dialog of the primary 100 days for the speaker,” Khanna stated concerning Democratic prospects to win the Home majority. “Even when they do not do the entire $90 billion, I imply, clearly that is my hope that the Home ought to move this invoice, they’ll take three parts of it.”
As for the 2028 presidential race?
“Whether or not I run, which clearly I am contemplating, or whether or not I’m actively supporting different candidates, I wish to be main in placing forth daring concepts about what that Democratic Celebration must be,” Khanna stated. “I feel we have to supply a brand new imaginative and prescient of concepts which are really going to ship for working- and middle-class households who’ve been not noted.”
