[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 6 (Wednesday, February 4, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E96]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CLINTON'S CHILD CARE PROPOSAL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 4, 1998

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member highly commends this January 
12, 1998, Omaha World-Herald editorial on President Clinton's child 
care proposal to his colleagues.

      Big Government Era Lives On in Clinton's Child Care Proposal

       Bill Clinton is playing Daddy President again. The same 
     president who announced the end of the era of big government 
     in 1996 is now advocating a major new government benefit: 
     subsidized child care.
       Clinton has proposed a five-year combination of spending 
     increases and tax incentives that would cost the Treasury 
     almost $22 billion. Of that, he would spend $14.3 billion on 
     child care subsidies for low-income families, increased 
     funding of Head Start for preschoolers and a new federal 
     program to promote training and safety at child care centers.
       The plan would let families with incomes of up to $30,000 
     take a tax credit for 50 percent of child care expenses up to 
     a limit of $2,400 for one child, $4,800 for two or more. 
     Families above $30,000 in annual income could also claim 
     credits on a sliding scale as income rises. At $60,000, their 
     maximum credit would be 20 percent of child care costs. The 
     current credit is 20 percent--30 percent if family income is 
     $28,000 or less.
       The plan has shocking implications. It would eliminate 
     federal income taxes for a family of four with an annual 
     income of up to $35,000 a year. So long as the family used 
     the maximum credit, life would be tax-free as far as the 
     Internal Revenue Service was concerned.
       Reducing the tax burden on the poor is one thing. A family 
     that earns $35,000 a year is not poor.
       Accompanied by a dozen children for the announcement, 
     Clinton called the plan ``the single largest national 
     commitment to child care in the history of the United 
     States.'' His plan would in fact be an unprecedented foray by 
     the federal government into the way American children are 
     raised.
       And what of the families who have planned and sacrificed to 
     allow one parent to stay home with the children? Many 
     families with a stay-at-home mom or dad are not wealthy. The 
     Clinton proposal ignored them. Indeed, the Clinton plan could 
     encourage more families to send both parents to work outside 
     the home.
       Federal income and payroll taxes eat up so much family 
     income that some families decide that both parents must work 
     full time. Clinton would best serve families by reducing 
     government and reforming Medicare and Social Security, 
     thereby making it possible to further reduce the tax burden 
     on families. Instead, he seeks to expand government, further 
     complicate the tax code and encourage the funneling of 
     children into day care.
       Certainly the government might properly help provide 
     temporary child care assistance for families in emergency 
     circumstances, or while a single parent prepares for a job. 
     That does not change the general concept that people should 
     not have children unless they can care for them or can afford 
     to pay someone else to care for them.
       However, Clinton's proposal to turn federally subsidized 
     child care into what amounts to a middle-class handout is bad 
     policy. It undermines the fundamental notion that parents--
     not the Daddy President--should be primarily responsible for 
     the care of their children.

     

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