[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 40 (Monday, March 15, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2682-S2683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         CHILD DEVELOPMENT ACT

 Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I address you today to speak 
about a problem that is one of the most pressing facing our nation 
today. Ten million children in America are eligible for federal child 
care assistance, yet we provide for only 1.4 million of them. Fully 86 
percent of eligible children are left unattended or are forced into 
inadequate facilities that are often overcrowded. These are the only 
viable options for parents who are struggling to make ends meet even in 
these times of national prosperity. The waiting list for child care 
assistance in many states extends to tens of thousands of eligible 
families. And so many parents who would give almost anything to be able 
to stay at home and care for their children themselves simply can't 
afford to do so. Something needs to be done soon. The problems that we 
are facing today will only compound as children who have been 
inadequately cared for struggle in school and society. As President 
Kennedy said, ``the time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining.''
  Today I reintroduce the most ambitious effort to address this problem 
to date, The Child Development Act. With this one piece of legislation, 
our nation will cut our most threatening problem in half. This bill 
provides support for half of the ten million American children who are 
eligible for federal child support assistance, and provides billions of 
dollars in tax credits for parents who choose to stay home with their 
children.
  The Child Development Act will help children and their parents 
several ways. First, it will greatly increase funding for the CCDBG 
program, a tried and proven method of providing for care of our 
children. The bulk of this money ($37.5 billion over 5 years) will be 
used to provide more affordability for families wanting to enroll their 
children in child care programs. There is also $4 billion in CCDBG 
funds set aside for improving the quality of child care in our country, 
which is definitely necessary as Children's Defense Fund studies show 
that 6 out of 7 child care facilities in this country provide only poor 
to mediocre service, and one out of eight centers actually put the 
safety of children at risk. Five billion dollars in CCDBG increases is 
set aside for improving afterschool programs for school age children. 
Additional $2 billion in CCDBG increases is allocated for new child 
care facilities construction ($500 million) providing 50,000 to 75,000 
new high quality child care slots each year; increases in public/
private partnerships where states and local communities' private 
sectors must each match twenty five percent of grants ($500 million); 
and $1 billion is allocated for professional development of child care 
workers. The remaining portions of the $62.5 billion bill are $1 
billion in loan forgiveness to those who earn a degree and work in 
early childhood education, and $13 billion in tax credits for low- and 
middle-income working parents, so that they can better afford quality 
care for their children. Those parents who make the tough financial 
decision to stay at home and care for their children will be greatly 
assisted by this provision.
  Research has shown that much of what happens in life depends upon the 
first three years of development. The brain is so profoundly influenced 
during this time because the brain of a three-year-old has twice as 
many synapses (connections between brain cells) as that of her adult 
parents. The process of brain development is actually one of 
``pruning'' out the synapses that one does not need (or more 
accurately, does not use) from those that become the brains standard 
``wiring.'' This is why the first three years of development are so 
important--this is the time that the brain must develop the wiring that 
is going to be used for the rest of one's life. According to a report 
on brain development published by the Families and Work Institute, 
``Early care and nurture have a decisive, long lasting impact on how 
people develop, their ability to learn, and their capacity to control 
their own emotions.'' If children do not receive proper care before the 
age of three, they never receive the chance to develop into fully 
functioning adults.
  We are not allowing our children a chance in life when we do not 
provide them with proper care in their early

[[Page S2683]]

years. If America is to achieve its goal of equal opportunity for our 
children, we need to start with proper care in their early years. It is 
a painful statistic then that our youngest citizens are also some of 
the poorest Americans. One out of every four of our country's 12 
million children under the age of three live in poverty. It becomes 
very difficult to break out of the cycle of poverty if poor children 
are not allowed to develop into fully functioning adults.
  Yet many parents in America do not have the option of providing 
adequate care for their children. For parents who can barely afford 
rent it is nearly impossible to take advantage of the Family Medical 
Leave Act, and sacrifice 12 weeks of pay in order to directly supervise 
a child. Many mothers need to return to work shortly after giving birth 
and find that the only options open to them are to place their children 
in care that is substandard, even potentially dangerous--but 
affordable. According to the Children's Defense Fund, six out of seven 
child care centers provide only poor to mediocre care, and one in eight 
centers provide care that could jeopardize children's safety and 
development. The same study said that one in three home-based care 
situations could be harmful to a child's development. How can we abide 
by these statistics?
  This is a serious problem, and frighteningly widespread. The 
eligibility levels set for receiving child care aid through the federal 
Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is 85 percent of a 
state's median income. Nationally, this came out to about $35,000 for a 
family of three in 1998. However, according to the Children's Defense 
Fund, fully half of all families with young children earn less than 
$35,000 per year. Half! A family that has two parents working full time 
at minimum wage earns only $21,400 per year. This is not nearly enough 
to even dream of adequate child care.
  Child care costs in the United States for one child in full-day day 
care range from $4,000 to $10,000 a year. It is not surprising that, on 
average, families with incomes under $15,000 a year spend 23 percent of 
their annual incomes on child care. And in West Virginia, if a family 
of three makes more than that $15,000, they no longer qualify for child 
care aid! In fact, thirty-two states do not allow a family of three 
which earns $25,000 a year (approximately 185 percent of poverty) to 
qualify for help. Only four states in our nation set eligibility cut-
offs for receiving child care assistance at 85 percent of median family 
income, the maximum allowed by federal law. There is obviously not 
enough funding to support the huge need for child care assistance in 
our nation, and that is why I am proposing the Child Care Development 
Act.
  There is widespread support for expanded investments to improve the 
affordability and quality of child care. A recent survey of 550 police 
chiefs found that nine out of ten police chiefs surveyed agreed that 
``America could sharply reduce crime if government invested more in 
programs to help children and youth get a good start'' such as Head 
Start and child care. Mayors across the country identified child care, 
more than any other issue, as one of the most pressing issues facing 
children and families in their communities in 1996 survey. A recent 
poll found that a bipartisan majority of those polled support increased 
investments in helping families pay for child care - specifically, 74% 
of those polled favor a bill to help low-income and middle-class 
families pay for child care, including 79% of Democrats, 69% of 
Republicans, and 76% of Independents.

  It is clear that many like to talk about supporting our children, and 
many are in favor of supporting our children, but what action is 
actually taken? Yes, the addition of new child care dollars in 1996 has 
helped welfare recipients, but it has done nothing for working, low-
income families not receiving TANF. The Children's Defense Fund 
recommends that Congress pass comprehensive legislation that guarantees 
at least $20 billion over five years in new funding for the Child Care 
Development Block Grant (CCDBG). My Child Care Development Act goes 
beyond this, yet even my bill is just a first step. This bill is 
designed to provide affordable, quality child care to half of the ten 
million American children presently in need of subsidized care. It will 
provide $62.5 billion over 5 years--$12.5 billion a year--nearly three 
times the amount proposed in the President's most ambitious, and still 
unprosecuted, proposal. In 1997 the President proposed extending care 
to 600,000 children from poor families, leaving fully 80% of eligible 
children without aid. The last time we heard about that proposal was 
1997.
  If we are serious about putting parents to work and protecting 
children, we need to invest more in families and in child care help for 
them. Enabling families to work and helping children thrive means 
giving states enough money so that they can set reasonable eligibility 
levels, let families know that help is available, and take working 
families off the waiting lists.
  The Child Care Development Act will require $62.5 billion over five 
years. There will be several offsets necessary if we are serious about 
giving children in this country the type of care they need and deserve. 
Shifting spending from these offsets demonstrates that our true 
national priority is children, not wasteful military spending and 
corporate tax loopholes.
  The offsets that will be necessary are as follows. If we repeal the 
reductions in the Corporate Minimum Tax from the 1997 Budget Bill, we 
create $8.2 billion. The elimination of the Special Oil and Gas 
Depletion Allowance will make room for and additional $4.3 billion. An 
offset of $575 million will come from a repeal of the Enhanced Oil 
Recovery Credit and an offset of $13.8 billion will come from the 
elimination of exclusion for Foreign-Earned Income. From these four 
different offsets in tax provisions a sub total amount of $26.8 billion 
is created to spend on child care.
  Defense cuts will also be necessary in the amount of $24.4 billion. 
This will come from canceling the F-22, a plane plagued with troubles, 
which will free up $19.3 billion, and $5.1 billion will come from a 
reduction in Nuclear Delivery Systems Within Overall Limits of START 
II.
  The remaining offsets can be made by reducing the Intelligence Budget 
by 5%, which would save $6.7 billion; by reducing Military Export 
Subsidies by $850 million; and by canceling the International Space 
Station, which costs $10 billion. All of which, when added together, 
allows for an additional $68.8 billion to be used to support our 
children.
  This is, finally, a child care bill on the same scope as the problem 
itself. We as a nation are neglecting the most vulnerable and important 
portion of our society--our children. Here is an ambitious solution to 
this vast problem that has been plaguing our country, so that we don't 
have to be a country that just talks about putting our children 
first.

                          ____________________