[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 105 (Tuesday, July 8, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4272-S4273]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mrs. Boxer, Mrs. Murray, Mrs. 
        Gillibrand, and Ms. Mikulski):
  S. 2565. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to enhance 
the dependent care tax credit, and for other purposes; to the Committee 
on Finance.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am here to discuss the Helping Working 
Families Afford Child Care Act, which is a bill my colleagues Senators 
Shaheen, Boxer, Gillibrand, and I introduced today. It will update the 
child and dependent care tax credit to offer working families more 
relief from the rising costs of childcare.
  When the child and dependent care tax credit was enacted originally, 
kids were playing with Rubik's Cubes and listening to eight-track 
tapes. As we all know, a lot has changed since then, and one of the 
most important changes our country has seen since that time is the rise 
of women in the labor force.
  Since the mid-1970s, women's participation in the labor force has 
increased by 23 percent, and most women now do work full time. In two-
thirds of families with dependent children, both parents work outside 
the home.
  Over a period of time in which the middle class has been squeezed by 
an increasingly global economy with higher prices for everything from 
health care to college, women joining the labor force has helped to 
ease some of those burdens for families. In fact, Federal Reserve Chair 
Janet Yellen has called the increasing participation of women in the 
workforce: ``A major factor in sustaining growing families incomes.'' A 
recent study by the Center for American Progress found between 1979 and 
2012, the U.S. economy grew by 11 percent as a result of women joining 
the labor force.
  As we look for ways to create jobs and expand growth in the 21st 
century, it is clear our country's economic success goes hand in hand 
with that of women and working families. We have to make sure our 
policies are updated to meet the needs of today's working parents, and 
one area we need to take a look at is childcare. The cost of childcare 
has skyrocketed in recent

[[Page S4273]]

years. Full-time childcare for just one child can cost families more 
than $10,000 annually, and for families below the poverty level--those 
who are already struggling the most to make ends meet--childcare can, 
on average, swallow one-third of what those parents are able to bring 
home.
  This is a real problem for far too many hard-working parents, and it 
is a problem for our economy, because when parents are struggling to 
find reliable, safe, affordable care for their children during the day, 
it is harder for them to give their all on the job. Even worse, 
childcare is so expensive, some parents--most often mothers--are 
deciding it is not even worth returning to the workforce. This means 
families are being held back from gaining the economic security they 
are working so hard to achieve.
  The child and dependent care tax credit was of course intended to 
help parents overcome these barriers, but today the benefit working 
parents get from the credit is a small fraction of what childcare 
actually costs. Because of how it is structured, the lowest income 
working families cannot benefit from it at all, meaning they have to 
bear the full brunt of childcare costs on very low wages.
  It is clear this credit is one of the policies we need to bring into 
the 21st century, and that is exactly what we were doing when we 
introduced the Helping Working Families Afford Child Care Act. This 
legislation will boost the benefit working families can receive for 
childcare costs, and it will make the child and dependent care tax 
credit refundable so those working parents who are struggling the most 
to make ends meet can better afford the childcare they need to work and 
support their families.
  If Congress passes our bill, next year working families could see a 
credit of $1,600 for one child or $3,200 for more than one child. That 
is almost three times the maximum benefit many families are currently 
eligible to receive.
  Our bill would be a real help to hard-working families who are trying 
to raise their children, pay the bills, save for college, and put 
something away for retirement. It could break down one of the biggest 
barriers mothers face when thinking about reentering the workforce.
  The need to expand access to affordable childcare is something I 
often talk about with my own constituents in Washington State. During 
those conversations, what I hear from parents is: I am so glad you 
focused on this. It is a real issue for us.
  Updating this tax credit to reflect the needs of families in today's 
economy would be a critical step forward in terms of our larger effort 
to ensure that working parents, dads and moms, have a fair shot.
  I believe by putting in place policies to make childcare more 
affordable, make sure women get the equal pay they deserve by raising 
the minimum wage so millions of workers have a better shot at lifting 
themselves out of poverty, and by taking steps to ensure students are 
not overwhelmed by debt after they graduate from college, we could 
break down some very real barriers that are holding our families and 
our economy back. There is no reason we should not start that right now 
with the bill we are introducing today.
  I hope all of our colleagues will take a minute, look at this--
Helping Working Families Afford Child Care Act--and take this 
seriously. I hope we will be able to make it easier for moms and dads 
to afford safe reliable care for their children while they are at work. 
I think we can all agree parents deserve to have that peace of mind. I 
believe if we enact this bill and build on it with other critical 
policies to help working families, our economy will be much stronger 
now and over the long term.
  I thank Senators Shaheen, Boxer, and Gillibrand again for all of 
their hard work and leadership on the part of working families.

                          ____________________