“The child care industry requires an immediate jumpstart to support this expansion. Incentives for entry-level employees can balance the low-wages and school debt that come with being a teacher.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani visits a home-based childcare provider in Manhattan on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

New York City is once again daring to lead as Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a proposal to increase funding and take a major step towards implementing Universal Child Care. With this initiative, we have a once in a generation opportunity to change the lives of working families. 

Care for children from 6 weeks to age 2 is complex, workforce intensive, and costly to deliver. If universal child care is going to become a reality, it must be built with, not merely for, the providers who already carry the system. To ensure it is sustainable, equitable, and grounded in operational reality, we must include family child care providers, community based nonprofit organizations, and long standing neighborhood institutions that have served working families for decades. 

We need more highly-trained educators to make universal child care possible. A lot more. Gov. Hochul’s proposals for strengthening the workforce pipeline by partnering with higher education are laudable, but the child care industry requires an immediate jumpstart to support this expansion. Incentives for entry-level employees can balance the low-wages and school debt that come with being a teacher. 

We must think big—like making tuition at CUNY and SUNY schools free for students pursuing Early Childhood degrees who commit to working for community based organizations serving children 2 and under. This would immediately improve our pipeline and bring new, highly trained educators into the workforce. 

Universal child care must start with affordability for families, but it must also deliver stability for providers. Child care providers operate on razor thin margins. Payments are delayed. Contracts are complicated and unpredictable. Federal funding disruptions have frozen hiring and strained programs that families rely on. Without reform, even well intentioned universal policies risk accelerating provider closures and consolidation, undermining access and stability in the very communities that need care the most. 

That means predictable, multi-year funding. It means modernizing city procurement and payment systems that ensure timely reimbursement and reliable cash flow. And critically, it means valuing teachers with appropriate salary and benefits whether they work for the Department of Education or local community providers. 

Salary parity is essential to recruiting and retaining qualified educators, reducing turnover, and ensuring consistent quality across all programs. The current system pays teachers at programs operated by New York City Schools more than those at other providers, creating constant turnover and instability. Highly trained educators doing the same work for the same public purpose should not be paid differently simply because they work in community based settings, rather than city-run programs.

Importantly, we must ensure access for all families for truly universal care by making it possible for child care centers to operate throughout the city. Government owned buildings, public housing, mixed use developments, and underutilized commercial space all represent opportunities to expand child care supply in high need neighborhoods if paired with smart capital investment from government and thoughtful real estate incentives. 

New York has built durable public systems before. Our public schools and public health infrastructure did not emerge overnight. They were built deliberately, with phased implementation, clear standards, and shared responsibility across government, labor, philanthropy, and the private sector. 

Universal Child Care deserves the same seriousness. 

That is why implementation must be guided by broad cross sector engagement that brings parents, providers, educators, labor, and community voices to the table. 

Done right, universal child care will be one of the most powerful workforce, equity, and economic development strategies New York City has ever pursued. The mayor and governor have made this a defining priority. Now the task before us is to deliver a system that is ambitious and durable. 

Rita Joseph represents Brooklyn’s District 40 in the New York City Council and serves as chair of the Council’s Committee on Higher Education. Robert Cordero is chief executive pofficer of Grand Street Settlement, one of New York City’s largest community based early childhood and family service organizations.

The post Opinion: Universal Child Care Must Work for the Providers Who Make It Possible appeared first on City Limits.

By STEPHEN GROVES and MATT BROWN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dozens of U.S. lawmakers were trying to make their way this weekend to the Munich Security Conference to assure allies of America’s reliability, but burdened with political crises at home, their entrance to the annual gathering of international leaders was more of a limp than a stride.

Some didn’t make the trip at all. House Speaker Mike Johnson canceled an official delegation of roughly two dozen House members who had planned to attend the event, leaving those lawmakers either to find their own way to Germany or send their regrets.

While two bipartisan delegations from the Senate still made the trip, they departed amid bitter fights over how U.S. immigration agents are carrying out President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdowns on illegal immigration, which have included fatal shootings of two people protesting the raids, as well as the Trump administration’s recent failed effort to indict six Democratic lawmakers who produced a video urging U.S. military members not to obey “illegal orders.”

“It is a little bit, you know, depressing to be here with what we have to deal with at home,” Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who was among those investigated by the Department of Justice, said in a live interview with Politico in Munich.

For over six decades, the annual conference has gathered world leaders in pursuit of cooperation for shared security, with the United State often playing a leading role. But Trump has upended his nation’s posture toward the rest of the world, especially Europe. And while many lawmakers who attended tried to assure European counterparts that the U.S. still wants a seat at the table, it was clear they were still grappling with the rapidly changing political environment at home.

“I expect to have a number of challenging conversations with friends and allies about their concern and alarm about what they’ve seen federal law enforcement under this administration do in Minneapolis and the attempt to indict six of my colleagues and other steps that frankly have more of the hallmarks of authoritarian societies than democracies,” said Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware.

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., takes part in the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Sven Hoppe /dpa via AP)

Senate’s bipartisan traditions are slipping

The security forum in recent years has been a reinforcing event for the coalition of nations backing Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion — a cause that once enjoyed strong support from Republicans. But several GOP senators who have participated in years past and hold spots on committees overseeing the U.S. military and foreign affairs decided this year to stay home. The delegations that did attend included significantly more Democrats.

As lawmakers exited Washington on Thursday, Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri ripped Democrats for heading to Munich while the Department of Homeland Security faced a shutdown during an impasse in Congress over funding the agency that oversees immigration enforcement.

“How do you justify getting on a plane and going to Europe when you’re shutting down DHS?” Schmitt told reporters. “They’re making a decision that their travel to Munich to cozy up with the Euros is way more important than funding DHS.”

Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz responded on social media, noting that he and Schmitt had both gone to Munich the year prior and that it “continues to be an important bipartisan trip.”

Still, Schatz also said this year is different in light of the Department of Justice attempting to indict two senators.

“Spare me the high-minded panel discussions and bilats and press availabilities about the United States as the indispensable nation, when we are dispensing with our most sacred constitutional obligations,” he said in a floor speech this week.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on during a meeting with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

Republicans articulate Trump policy

Some Republicans who attended the Munich gathering came not to offer reassurances, but to herald the changing world under under Trump. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby were among the top Trump administration officials participating.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is close to Trump, led one of the delegations of senators. He presented a bullish argument that European security is better off with Trump’s willingness to break up the traditional roles of Western allies. He argued the U.S. needs to keep up pressure on Iran with the goal of toppling the regime, as well as build pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to reach a peace deal.

“We’re here at a crucial moment, folks. If we don’t follow through with what we promised the people of Iran, it will destroy America’s credibility for years to come, it will make this world less safe,” he said.

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A new voice from the US

Graham has been a mainstay at Munich and other like conferences for years, yet there was also a new voice from the American side.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive from New York, made her first trip to the conference to discuss the rise of populism and the shifting role of American power in the world. Her attendance at the conference, she said, was meant to show support for international liberal values.

“We are ready for the next chapter, not to have the world turned to isolation, but to deepen our partnership on greater and increased commitment to integrity to our values,” she said at a roundtable.

Ocasio-Cortez said she identified with voters who had defected from traditional left-of-center parties in Europe and the United States for populist hard-right parties. She said her frustrations with a Democratic Party “that championed special interests, the elite” is what had pushed her to run for office.

“Domestically and globally, there have been many leaders who’ve said ‘We will go back’. And I think we have to recognize that we are in a new day and in a time,” she said, adding “That does not mean that the majority of Americans are ready to walk away from a rules-based order and that we’re ready to walk away from our commitment to democracy.”

Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this story.

MAIQUETIA, Venezuela (AP) — A shipment from the United States of medicine and medical supplies arrived in Venezuela on Friday, reflecting a new spirit of cooperation between the two countries following the stunning capture last month of then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Laura Dogu, the U.S. top diplomat in the South American country, and Venezuelan diplomat Félix Plasencia, received the shipment containing 6 metric tons of supply at the airport outside Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.

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“It’s very important to stabilize the health system here in Venezuela,” Dogu told reporters at the airport in Maiquetía. She added that the shipment was “the first of many donations” that will arrive “in the coming days.”

Venezuela’s complex crisis, which began more than a decade ago, led to the collapse of the country’s public health care system. Hospitals are so poorly equipped that patients are asked to provide supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws.

Plasencia described the donation as a “message of cooperation among two sovereign countries.

“We’re doing the best for our people,” he said.

By DAVID A. LIEB

Virginia voters will get to cast ballots on a congressional redistricting plan benefiting Democrats while a court battle plays out over the legality of the effort.

The Virginia Supreme Court said Friday that a statewide referendum can be held April 21 on whether to authorize mid-decade redistricting, and the court will decide sometime later whether the plan is legal.

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Democrats celebrated the green light for the election. But the court’s schedule raises the possibility that it could all be for naught, if the Supreme Court ultimately upholds a lower court ruling that the mid-decade redistricting amendment is invalid.

Virginia Democrats hold six of the state’s 11 U.S. House seats, but they are backing a revised map that could help them win up to 10 seats in this year’s midterm elections. The new districts are a key part of Democrats’ national strategy to try to offset potential Republican gains in several other states that redrew their districts last year at the urging of President Donald Trump.

The Republican president is trying to preserve a narrow GOP majority in the House against political headwinds that typically blow against the party in power in midterm elections.

Before Virginia Democrats can implement new congressional districts, they need voter approval to temporarily set aside a constitutional provision that places redistricting authority with a bipartisan commission and instead grant that power to the General Assembly. Lawmakers endorsed a constitutional amendment allowing their mid-decade redistricting last fall, then passed it again in January as part of a two-step process that requires an intervening election in order for an amendment to be placed on the ballot.

But Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. last month struck down the General Assembly’s actions on three grounds. The judge ruled that lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session.

FILE – Republican gubernatorial candidate and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears presides over the Virginia Senate during a special legislative session in Richmond, Va., Oct. 29, 2025. (Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP, File)

Hurley also ruled that the General Assembly’s initial vote for the amendment failed to occur before the public began casting ballots in last year’s general election and thus didn’t count toward the two-step process. And he ruled that the state failed to publish the amendment three months before the election, as required by law. As a result of those issues, he said, the amendment was invalid and void.

Democrats appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court, which agreed on Friday to consider the case while stating that a narrowly tailored injunction by the lower court doesn’t prevent the April referendum. The court directed initial briefs to be filed by March 23, with the last round of court filings due April 23. Any oral arguments would be scheduled for later, the court said.

Nationwide, the redistricting battle has resulted so far in nine more seats that Republicans believe they can win in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, and six that Democrats think they can win in California and Utah. Democrats have hoped to make up that three-seat margin in Virginia, though the lower court ruling raised a hurdle to their plans. It’s unclear whether the redistricting efforts in various states ultimately will make any difference in determining control of Congress in the November election.