[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 6 (Monday, February 9, 1998)]
[Pages 209-210]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Child Care Legislation

February 5, 1998

    Earlier this week, I submitted my budget proposal to Congress. I am 
proud that this budget--the first balanced budget in a generation--
includes an ambitious initiative to make child care better, safer, and 
more affordable. Yesterday we moved closer to achieving meaningful child 
care legislation because of an important step taken by Senator Chris 
Dodd and many of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate. Senator Dodd 
has introduced a comprehensive child care package that, like mine, 
significantly increases child care subsidies for poor children, provides 
greater tax relief to help low- and middle-income families pay for child 
care, creates a tax credit for businesses that provide child care for 
their employees, increases after-school opportunities for children, 
promotes early learning, and improves child care quality.
    In putting forward this proposal, Senator Dodd and his cosponsors 
have built on their longstanding commitment to improving child

[[Page 210]]

care for our Nation's children. I was also pleased that last week a 
group of Republicans introduced a promising child care proposal. I look 
forward to working with the Congress on a bipartisan basis to enact 
child care legislation this year that will help Americans fulfill their 
responsibilities as workers, and even more importantly, as parents.