May 21, 2001

"Mr. President, I am pleased to join with my colleague from Vermont, Senator Jeffords, in offering this amendment to give working families some much-needed relief from the extraordinary costs of child care.

Mr. President, this is a modest amendment. I have been in this chamber on countless occasions introducing legislation similar to this, or offering amendments to pending legislation similar to this amendment.

In the past, I have proposed making the dependent care tax credit, or DCTC, refundable. But, I'm not proposing that today.

Today, I'm merely joining with my colleague from Vermont to modestly increase the thresholds - the amount of eligible child care expenses against which the dependent care tax credit is taken.

Under current law, a family can take a credit for a small percentage of $2,400 in child care expenses for one child and $4,800 for two children. This amendment would also increase the percentage of eligible expenses that can be taken.

Mr. President, these thresholds have not been increased since 1981. It is really hard to believe that any of my colleagues seriously believe that child care costs have not increased in 20 years.

Studies show that full-day child care for a 4 year-old today costs, on average, between $4,000 and $10,000 per year, per child. This is more than the average annual cost of public college tuition in every state but one. And, that is just the cost for one child. Many families have more than one child.

The need for child care has become a daily fact of life for many parents. Some 65 percent of mothers with children under age 6, and 78 percent of mothers with children between the ages of 6 and 13, are working today. Nearly 60 percent of mothers with infants are working.

Are we prepared to tell these families, these women, that the cost of child care has not increased in 20 years? That there is no need to increase this credit to bring it more in line with what real families pay for child care?

Let's do the math.

If  I'm a single parent earning $30,000 and I have a one year old and a three year old, I am spending possibly half or more of my income in child care expenses. And, that's before I try to pay the rent, put food on the table, or save for my children's education.

The current child tax credit helps, but it is just no real match for the reality of the child care market.

Under current law, the maximum credit a family can claim is $720 a year for one child and $1,440 for two children. While that's not insignificant, it is not enough to make an $8,000 child care bill affordable.

This amendment would also index the thresholds for child care expenses for inflation. That's just common sense. Over the years, most of the basic tax provisions affecting tax liability have been indexed - the personal exemption, the standard deduction, tax brackets, and for low income families, the Earned Income Tax Credit.

But, not the dependent care tax credit. We have not increased the thresholds themselves a dime, let alone indexed them for inflation.

I say to my colleagues, it just doesn't make sense. Many women must work. The majority (55 percent) of working women bring home half or more of their family's earnings.

One out of three children of working mothers is poor even though their mothers work or, would be poor if their mothers did not work.

For parents with children to work, they must have child care. The current dependent care tax credit is outdated. It's woefully inadequate.

In this bill, the RELIEF bill to empower families, it is the right thing to do to support this amendment. I urge my colleagues to join us and support this amendment.