Child-Care Tax Cuts Split Republicans Sponsor Says Gop Leaders Not Serious About Family Issue
Congressional Republicans are offering a child-care plan that focuses on tax cuts and stay-at-home mothers. But the whole issue is low on the leadership’s list of priorities.
Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., led a group of moderate Republicans in introducing a bill Wednesday, and said he was disappointed that child care did not make the GOP leaders’ list of 19 priorities for the coming months.
“They don’t really care about this issue,” said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who has introduced his own bill. “It’s quite apparent.”
To give momentum to the GOP bill, President Clinton offered encouraging words, saying the Republican measure mirrors many of his own proposals. “With this important contribution from Senator Chafee and his Senate colleagues, we move significantly closer to enacting child-care legislation that is right for America’s children,” Clinton said.
In the House, many Republican leaders would just as soon leave child care alone, said Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fla.., who chairs a Ways and Means subcommittee that handles some child-care issues.
Shaw said there is plenty of federal child-care money available already for people coming off welfare, and Washington doesn’t need to subsidize middle- and upper-middle-class families. Still, he said, the GOP may have no choice in this election year.
“I don’t want to be perceived as being against child care but at some point you have to draw the line, and politically it’s very awkward to do that,” Shaw said. “It’s an election year so people are going to act a little funny.”
Republicans say they are prepared to answer Clinton’s call for a $21.7 billion program that combines subsidies for low-income parents, tax credits for middle-class parents and tax incentives for businesses that provide their workers with child care.
In both the House and Senate, leaders are talking about tax credits for parents who stay at home to care for their children. And they’re making the case for broad-based tax cuts that would give families more money to spend however they see fit.
Both approaches are in contrast to Clinton’s plan, which targets working parents.
In the Senate, Republican Dan Coats of Indiana plans a news conference today to push his argument that new money should be targeted to parents who stay at home with their children. He’ll tout a poll by the conservative Family Research Council indicating parents would prefer to spend more time with their children if they could afford it.
Some wonder if Congress is sending mixed messages. Members tout new research showing the crucial brain development during a child’s early years and argue parents should be encouraged to stay home. Yet the welfare overhaul law requires mothers to work.
In the House, Republican leaders have appointed Reps. Jennifer Dunn of Washington and Deborah Pryce of Ohio - two working mothers - to formulate child-care strategy. They are pushing for tax breaks.
“You have to decide how invasive should the federal government be in the lives of taxpayers,” Dunn said. “Leaving more dollars in the pockets of families is going to allow them to do whatever they want to do with the money.”
xxxx ONE POPULAR IDEA In both the House and Senate, leaders are talking about tax credits for parents who stay at home to care for their children.