Sens。蒂姆·凯恩弗吉尼亚州的凯蒂·布里特。周三早上，该机构公布了一项两党联合的法案，旨在让中低收入家庭更容易获得和负担得起儿童保育服务。
他们的提案将修改现有的税收抵免政策，以帮助在职父母支付儿童保育费用。参议员们告诉美国广播公司新闻，它将实施一项新的计划，让儿童保育工作者继续工作。
“我去过弗吉尼亚的每个社区，从最偏远的农村到最城市化的城市，我听到的都是同样的事情:为什么我支付的费用比我支付的大学费用还要多?”凯恩谈到与父母讨论儿童保育费用时说。
A毕马威会计师事务所最近的报告发现美国儿童保育费用的上涨速度几乎是整体通货膨胀速度的两倍。根据毕马威(KPMG)的数据，1990年至2024年4月间，日托和学前班的成本上涨了263%。
不断上升的成本让来自政治光谱两端的布里特和凯恩在这个新的一揽子法案上走到了一起。
“如果你有机会呆在家里，我认为这很了不起。但是，如果儿童保育的可获得性和可负担性是你重新进入的障碍，我们觉得我们走到一起有一个共同的意识，两党解决方案是重要的，这实际上有机会获得一些腿和完成，以便我们可以为美国人民和全国各地的父母取得真正的成果，“布里特，两个高中生的母亲说。
参议员们提出的一揽子计划旨在重组现有的旨在帮助雇主和父母的提案。
他们提出的一项法案将对有一个孩子的家庭和有多个孩子的家庭的儿童和家属护理税收抵免增加到2500美元和4000美元。这也将使信贷可退还，参议员们说，这一好处将使更多的钱进入低收入家庭的口袋。
“这是关于我们如何帮助中产阶级家庭，我们如何帮助那些低收入的个人和父母?你知道，可退款部分是一个游戏规则的改变，”布里特说。
他们的法案还包括一项提案，允许家庭将更多的钱存入税前储蓄账户，用于儿童保育。
该计划还通过启动一项新的拨款计划来关注儿童保育提供者，Britt和Kaine表示，他们希望该计划能够增长，并防止员工离开儿童保育工作岗位去从事高薪工作。
2023年，美国儿童保育员的工资中位数是每年30，370美元，根据劳工统计局的数据.
参议员们表示，他们希望他们的提议能够获得参议院所需的支持，特别是随着立法者将注意力转向2025年的税收政策，届时2025年实施的许多减税措施将到期。
在与同事的早期交谈中，参议员们表示，他们相信他们的法案将吸引更多的共同提案人。
“我认为时机成熟了。我认为人们回家后会听到这些，”布里特说。
儿童税收抵免辩论在国会升温
虽然布里特和凯恩对他们的一揽子计划的前进道路以及围绕儿童税收政策的一些问题的两党合作保持乐观，但近年来在国会山有些难以实现。在2024年大选之前，这变得更加两极化。
Britt和Kaine的提案与备受争议的儿童税收抵免修改该法案将在本周晚些时候面临参议院的关键投票。
预计参议院将于周四就一项单独的税收改革提案进行投票，该提案将扩大儿童税收抵免的可获得退款，以及新的企业税收政策。该法案几乎肯定会在大多数共和党人手中失败，他们说该法案对民主党人做出了太多让步。
多数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)几乎承认该法案将于周四被否决，但他表示，他会提出来让共和党人记录在案，部分原因是前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的副总统候选人万斯(JD Vance)最近的言论。
万斯最近因为之前公开评论美国没有孩子的人。但这是他周日在福克斯新闻频道接受采访时的评论，万斯在采访中暗示，副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯反对儿童税收抵免，舒默周二在参议院似乎提到了这一点。
“这是一派胡言。民主党人并不反对儿童税收抵免。相反，我们强烈支持它。我们在2021年创作并整理了它。儿童税收抵免的扩大是民主党在拜登-哈里斯政府下取得的最重要的成就之一，”舒默在参议院说。“事实是:民主党人希望通过一揽子税收计划，因为这将有助于通过再次扩大儿童税收抵免来帮助更多的孩子摆脱贫困。”
Senators unveil bipartisan proposal aimed at making child care more affordable
Sens.Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Katie Britt, R-Ala., unveiled a bipartisan package of bills Wednesday morning aimed at making child care more available and affordable for low- and middle-income families.
Their proposal would modify existing tax credits to help working parents afford child care. And it would implement a new program to keep child care workers in their jobs, the senators told ABC News.
"Every community that I go to in Virginia, from the most rural to the most urban, I hear the same thing: Why am I paying more than I would pay for college?" Kaine said of talking to parents about the cost of child care.
MORE: Child care costs are outpacing inflation: Report
Arecent report from the tax firm KPMG foundthat the cost of child care in the U.S. is rising at nearly double the pace of overall inflation. Between 1990 and April 2024, the cost of day care and preschool rose 263%, according to KPMG.
The rising costs have brought Britt and Kaine, who come from opposite ends of the political spectrum, together on this new package of bills.
"If you have that opportunity to stay home, I think it is remarkable. But if accessibility and affordability of child care is an impediment to you reentering, we felt like it was important for us to come together to have a common sense, bipartisan solution, something that actually had the opportunity to get some legs and get done so that we could achieve real results for American people and for parents all across the country," Britt, a mom of two high schoolers, said.
The package that the senators are proposing looks to retool existing proposals that are meant to help employers and parents.
Sen. TIm Kaine (D-VA) speaks to reporters during a vote in the Senate Chambers of the U.S. Capitol Bu...Show more
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, FILE
One of the bills they're proposing increases the size of the child and dependent care tax credit to $2,500 for families with one child and $4,000 for families with multiple children. It would also make the credit refundable, a benefit the senators said will put more money into the pockets of low-income families.
"It was about how do we help middle-class families, how do we help those lower-income individuals and parents? You know, the refundable portion is a game changer for that," Britt said.
Their bill also includes a proposal that would allow families to put more money into pre-tax savings accounts for child care.
The package also focuses on child care providers by launching a new grant program that Britt and Kaine said they hope will grow and keep workers from leaving the child care workforce for higher-paying jobs.
The median pay for child care workers in the U.S. in 2023 was $30,370 dollars year,according to the Bureau of Labor statistics.
US Senator Katie Britt, Republican of Alabama, speaks during the first day of the 2024 Republican Nat...Show more
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
MORE: Vance argued for higher tax rate on childless Americans in 2021 interview
The senators said they are hopeful their proposal will get the support it needs to clear the Senate, especially as lawmakers turn their attention toward tax policy in 2025, when many of the tax cuts implemented in 2025 are set to expire.
In early conversations with colleagues, the senators said they are confident their bills will attract additional co-sponsors.
"I think the time is right. I think people are hearing this when they go back home," Britt said.
Child tax credit debate heats up on the Hill
While Britt and Kaine remain optimistic about a path forward for their package and bipartisanship around some issues concerning child tax policy, it has been somewhat hard to come by on Capitol Hill in recent years. It's become even more polarizing in the lead-up to the 2024 election.
The proposal from Britt and Kaine is separate from themuch-discussed child tax credit modifications, which will face a critical vote in the Senate later this week.
MORE: New bipartisan proposal to enhance the Child Tax Credit: What to know
The Senate is expected to vote on Thursday on a separate tax reform proposal that, among other things, would expand the accessible refund of the child tax credit, as well as new tax policies for businesses. That legislation is almost certain to fail at the hands of the majority of Republicans, who say it makes too many concessions to Democrats.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has all but conceded that the bill will go down on Thursday, but he said he's bringing it up to put Republicans on the record, in part because of recent comments from former President Donald Trump's vice presidential candidate JD Vance.
Vance has garnered plenty of media attention lately for previous public comments aboutchildless people in America. But it was his comments during a Fox News interview on Sunday, during which Vance suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris opposed the child tax credit, that Schumer seemed to be referencing on the Senate floor Tuesday.
"This is plain old nonsense. Democrats do not oppose the child tax credit whatsoever. On the contrary, we strongly support it. We authored it and put it together back in 2021. The child tax credit expansion is one of the most significant achievements Democrats have done under the Biden-Harris Administration," Schumer said on the Senate floor. "Here is the truth: Democrats want to pass the tax package, because it will help lift more kids out of poverty with another expansion of the child tax credit."
