Are Claims of a Crisis in Child Care Overblown? Our view of a widely reported, COVID-caused child-care “crisis” is almost entirely driven by anecdotal evidence promoted by advocacy groups. To make good policy in a crucial area, we need more reliable data. Emphasizing an “acute, immediate child-care crisis in America,” President Biden included $40 billion in his recently-proposed $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan,” aimed to save thousands of struggling child-care businesses and enable millions of women — now stuck at home — to return to work. As I suggested in a recently-published article, though, we know too little about the child care problem we’re planning to spend billions of dollars to solve. That’s because our view of a widely reported, COVID-caused child-care “crisis” is almost entirely driven by anecdotal evidence promoted by advocacy groups. To make good policy in a crucial area, we need more reliable data.