[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 27, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H2836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CHILDCARE CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Porter) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to talk about an important issue 
affecting families across our country, including in my home State of 
California.
  I am a single mom, and I know firsthand that we have a childcare 
crisis in this country. Two years ago, I spent $16,000 on childcare for 
my daughter Betsy to attend the U.C. Irvine-Verano Preschool. That is 
more than it would have been for an entire year of tuition for her to 
be an undergraduate at U.C. Irvine.
  I was able to keep $5,000 of the money that I earned pretax to go 
toward those childcare expenses in a flexible spending account, but 
that didn't go very far to cover childcare for Betsy, never mind my 
other two children. The $5,000 doesn't even get me to tax day. This is 
the reality of raising a family in Orange County and in so many places 
across the country.
  In only one State is childcare considered affordable. Let that sink 
in. In every State but one, the majority of families have to spend more 
than 7 percent of their income on childcare.
  My constituents in the 45th Congressional District have asked me to 
help them make childcare affordable.
  Jennifer, who works in my district, has two children under the age of 
3. She and her husband will spend 23 percent of their gross income on 
childcare next year. That is not affordable.
  In Irvine, Erica and her husband spend $1,350 each month for 
childcare for their 3-year-old son. They have access to a flexible 
spending account through their employer, but the $5,000 that current 
law allows only covers 31 percent of their annual childcare cost.
  Even for those with school-age children, the most affordable city-
sponsored camps so parents can work during the summer and spring break, 
exceed $5,000. And the cost of eldercare is equally out of proportion 
to the current $5,000 limit on the Dependent Care Flexible Spending 
Account.
  That is why I am introducing the bipartisan Family Savings for Kids 
and Seniors Act. This bill will allow families to keep more of their 
own paychecks, pretax, to use for the care for kids, grandparents, and 
other family members that they incur so that they can work. The bill 
does this by adjusting the limit that Americans can put into their 
Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts, or FSAs. Families use this 
pretax benefit to help pay for preschool, camps, adult daycare, and 
childcare.
  The $5,000 limit under current law has not changed since it was 
enacted in 1986, but childcare costs have certainly risen with the cost 
of inflation. There is no reason why a family's ability to save for 
dependent care shouldn't have increased with time as well.
  If my bill were in effect now, families would be able to put $11,300 
in their flexible savings accounts. That is about the average cost of 
childcare for one child in this country.
  The Family Savings for Kids and Seniors Act offers families a way to 
keep more of what they earn to pay for the childcare and eldercare that 
allows them to work. The work that parents do adds to the vitality and 
the strength of our economy.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting 
America's working families.

                          ____________________