Casey pushes for child care assistance

Times Leader - 3/26/2019

March 26-- Mar. 26--WILKES-BARRE -- U.S. Sen. Bob Casey on Monday said he has been all over Pennsylvania talking about child care and the need to help middle class families who struggle month-to-month to make ends meet.

During an interview at the Times Leader, Casey (D-Scranton) talked passionately about the issue, noting that costs are up for child care and he intends to push that the issue be a major part of the Democratic platform going forward.

Casey said affordable, high-quality child care enables parents to work so that they can support their families and helps give children the early learning experiences they need to develop and succeed in school.

"When children learn more earlier in life, they earn more later," Casey said. "Unfortunately, the cost of child care has increased by 25 percent over the past decade, creating significant financial strain for middle-class families."

According to data from Child Care Aware, in Pennsylvania, the average cost of full-time center-based daycare is $11,560 for an infant and $8,712 for a 4-year-old.

"This is about 12 percent of annual income for married couples in the Commonwealth, and nearly 46 percent of annual income for single parents," Casey said.

Casey is an original co-sponsor of Sen. Patty Murray's (D-Washington) Child Care for Working Families Act and the sponsor of the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit Enhancement Act -- two proposals to make child care accessible and affordable for low and middle income families.

The Child Care for Working Families Act (S. 568):

--Provides direct financial assistance, through a new federal-state partnership, to working parents to help pay for child care, ensuring that family would pay more than 7 percent of their household income for childcare, if they earn less than 150 percent their state's median income.

--Supports universal access to high-quality preschool programs for 3- and 4-year olds.

--Improves workforce compensation by ensuring that all child care workers are paid a living wage and early childhood educators are provided parity with elementary school teachers with similar credentials and experience.

--Builds more inclusive, high-quality child care providers for children with disabilities and infants and toddlers with disabilities.

--Helps all Head Start programs meet the new expanded duration requirements and provide full-day, full-year programming.

The Child Care and Dependent Credit Enhancement Act:

--Makes the full Child Care Tax Credit available to most working families: This bill would make the full credit available to families with income under $120,000.

The current phase-down of the credit begins at $15,000 of income.

--Puts more money into a family's pocket: The bill increases the maximum credit from $1,050 to $3,000 per child (age 0-13), up to $6,000.

--Ensures lower income families see a benefit: The bill would make the credit fully refundable to make sure those with the greatest need see a benefit.

--Retains the value over time: The bill would index benefits to inflation to ensure they keep up with ever-growing costs.

Sen. Murray, lead sponsor of The Child Care for Working Families Act, said no matter where she goes, she hears from parents who share their stories about how the lack of affordable, high-quality child care is holding them back from focusing on their jobs, or taking promotions, and some are even being forced to quit their jobs altogether.

Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.

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