According to a report, “Regulations that impose minimum standardson providers can decrease the availability and increase the cost ofobtaining care, thus serving as a disincentive towork.”  (Photo: Shutterstock)

The Trump administration says that reducing regulations on childcare providers will allow more people, particularly women, to stay employed.

A new White House report says that minimum standards forproviders may end up driving up the cost of operating a child carecenter and reducing the supply of affordable care options forworking families. The more expensive care is, the most likely thata parent will choose to withdraw from the workforce to stay at homewith their child.

“Regulations that impose minimum standards on providers candecrease the availability and increase the cost of obtaining care,thus serving as a disincentive to work,” said the report.

Related: Amazon's working moms campaign for childcarehelp

Over the past twelve years the labor force participation rate has mostly beenon a downward trajectory, declining from 66 percent to to a low of62.4 percent in September of 2015. Since then participation hasincreased and stood at 63.2 percent in February.

The slight uptick in workforce participation has surprisedeconomists, who expected the decline to continue due to thecountry's aging population.

The administration is also proposing $1 billion in federalfunding for new child care facilities in underserved areas. Stateswill be awarded funding in part if they show that they have reducedregulatory barriers to child care.

The administration may run the risk of appearing indifferent tothe safety concerns that naturally come into play. State regulatorsin Texas, for instance, have come under fire after an investigationby the Austin American-Statesman uncovered numerousincidents of children dying or being abused in daycares that wereeither unlicensed or largely unregulated.

Ivanka Trump is the face of the administration's child careefforts. While what she says about the importance of affordablechild care is similar to what is being said by Democrats, some ofwhom have proposed child care bills of their own, theadministration proposal differs in that it proposes far lessmoney.

Thus far, Democrats have largely dismissed the Trump proposal aslittle more than a symbolic gesture.

“I'm excited that more people are aware of the barrier thatchild care is to working families in order to achieve theireconomic dreams and take care of their families,” Sen. PattyMurray, D-Wash., tells NPR. “So we welcome all ideas, but they haveto be real ideas.”