The Emerging Child-Care Issue

Something has to be done soon to help working parents care for their children -- and the Federal Government cannot avoid playing a role. With those propositions there is suddenly no longer any serious disagreement. Michael Dukakis says so, and so do Jesse Jackson and, mutedly, George Bush. In Congress, legislation is being pushed not only by liberal Democrats but also by Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who normally cannot be found within miles of any proposal to increase social spending. Most surprising, the Reagan Administration, after seven years of virtually ignoring the problem, is now pulling itself together to...