Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Katie Britt of Alabama introduced a pair of bipartisan bills Wednesday intended to make child care more affordable by expanding tax credits and deductions while also creating a grant program to boost pay for care workers in order to attract and retain employees in the sector.
Both Kaine and Britt call the challenge of finding affordable child care a national crisis with widespread economic effects. “This crisis is holding our families, workers, and economy back, and I’m proud to be introducing a bold bipartisan proposal to tackle it head on,” Kaine, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Their news release announcing the legislation says that the cost of child care has climbed 220% over the last three decades, according to a 2022 analysis, and more than half of American families live in areas suffering from stark shortages of child care options. The toll: more than $122 billion in annual economic losses, according to one analysis published last year.
“The duo made a strategic choice to hone in on a tax solution, hoping they can convince colleagues to add child care measures to a big tax bill expected next year when the Trump tax cuts expire,” Punchbowl News reports.
The senators’ Child Care Availability and Affordability Act would boost the size of the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit — not to be confused with the similarly named Child Tax Credit — and make it refundable so that lower-income families can get the full benefit, up to a maximum of $2,500 for families with one child and $4,000 for those with two or more kids. The bill would also increase the deductibility of dependent care expenses from $5,000 to $7,500 and significantly increase a tax credit for employers that provide child care for their workers, raising the limit from $150,000 to $500,000 and offering even more for small businesses.
The proposed Child Care Workforce Act, meanwhile, would set up a grant program for states and localities to supplement low pay for child-care workers, aimed at reducing turnover and increasing the supply of employees in the sector.
Britt, a Republican, emphasized to reporters that a goal of the legislation is to allow and incentivize people to work, helping to boost the economy. “We're not creating an entitlement here,” she said, according to Axios, preemptively addressing a potential GOP concern.
