[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5598 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5598

 To establish a program under which employing offices of the House of 
    Representatives may agree to reimburse employees for child care 
                   expenses, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 12, 2008

   Mr. Clay introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                   Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish a program under which employing offices of the House of 
    Representatives may agree to reimburse employees for child care 
                   expenses, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PROGRAM TO REIMBURSE HOUSE EMPLOYEES FOR CHILD CARE 
              EXPENSES.

    (a) Establishment of Program.--The Chief Administrative Officer of 
the House of Representatives shall establish a program under which an 
employing office of the House of Representatives may agree to have 
payments made from the applicable accounts of the House of 
Representatives to reimburse employees of the office for child care 
expenses incurred while the employees are carrying out official duties. 
For purposes of this section, a Member of the House of Representatives 
shall not be considered to be an employee of the House of 
Representatives.
    (b) Providers of Services.--The child care expenses for which 
reimbursement may be made under the program established under this 
section are expenses incurred at the House of Representatives Child 
Care Center operated under section 312 of the Legislative Branch 
Appropriations Act, 1992 (2 U.S.C. 2062) or at any other provider of 
child care services which is licensed or regulated by the Federal 
government or a State or local government.
    (c) Limit on Annual Aggregate Payments for Employing Office.--The 
aggregate amount of the payments made under the program under this Act 
with respect to an employing office during a year may not exceed an 
amount equal to--
            (1) 2% of the amount made available for salaries and 
        expenses of the employing office for the year (or, in the case 
        of an employing office that is the office of a Member of the 
        House of Representatives, 2% of the average Members' 
        Representational Allowance for all Member offices for the 
        year); reduced by
            (2) the amount expended during the year with respect to the 
        employing office under the student loan repayment program 
        established under section 105 of the Legislative Branch 
        Appropriations Act, 2003 (2 U.S.C. 60c-6).
    (d) Member Defined.--In this Act, the term ``Member of the House of 
Representatives'' includes a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the 
Congress.

SEC. 2. REGULATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Committee on House Administration of the 
House of Representatives shall promulgate such regulations as may be 
necessary to carry out the program under this Act.
    (b) Use of Central Account for Payments.--Under the regulations 
promulgated by the Committee on House Administration under subsection 
(a), the Chief Administrative Officer shall establish and administer a 
central account from the applicable accounts of the House of 
Representatives for making payments under the program, and the payments 
will not be made from the budgets of employing offices.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated from the applicable 
accounts of the House of Representatives such sums as may be necessary 
to carry out the program under this Act during fiscal year 2009 and 
each succeeding fiscal year.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The program established under this Act shall be in effect during 
the One Hundred Eleventh Congress and each succeeding Congress.
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