Edwards Introduces the Child CARE Act to Make Quality Child Care Affordable for Working Families

Press Release

Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards (MD-4) reintroduced the Child Care Access and Refundability Expansion Act (Child CARE Act), H.R. 1492, which expands the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) to help families with the ever-increasing cost of child and dependent care.

"In Maryland and across the country, working families are struggling to cope with child care expenses that are one of the biggest financial burdens they face, exceeding costs for housing, transportation, and food," said Congresswoman Edwards. "For working parents, access to safe and high-quality child care is a necessity to make ends meet. As President Obama said in his State of the Union address earlier this year, child care "is not a nice-to-have -- it's a must-have.' Access to affordable care for children, dependents, and aging parents is a national economic priority."

In 20 states, the cost of child care for two children is more than the cost of the mortgage on the family's home. In Maryland, a single mother spends an average of 36% of her income on child care. To make matters worse, the current CDCTC is outdated and does not reflect the realities of these rising costs. It applies a sliding scale that reduces the credit to only 20% of eligible expenses (currently $3,000 for one dependent and $6,000 for two or more) for families making more than $43,000 per year. Additionally, the credit is not currently refundable, meaning that lower-income families with no tax liability cannot benefit from the CDCTC, no matter what their child care costs are.

The Child CARE Act will allow more families to benefit fully from the credit and afford child and dependent care. It helps working parents with the high cost of care by increasing the credit to 50% of eligible expenses and raising the cap to $8,000 per eligible dependent ($16,000 for two or more). It allows middle-class families with a household income of up to $200,000 to fully benefit from the credit and also makes the credit refundable, which would allow many lower-income families to benefit from the CDCTC for the first time. The bill also indexes both the eligible expense cap and income threshold to inflation, meaning that the CDCTC will keep up with the rising cost of care.

Additionally, the bill creates a tax credit to encourage child care providers to send their employees to professional development classes in early childhood education and child development. Child care providers are an integral part of the child care system that cares for millions of children across the country. Ensuring the high quality of the child care available in our communities is a vital part of creating a setting where young children can grow, flourish, and enter school ready to learn.

The bill was introduced with 21 original cosponsors: Reps. Blumenauer, Bustos, Capps, Castor, Conyers, Delaney, DeLauro, DelBene, Fudge, Hastings, McCollum, McDermott, Nadler, Holmes Norton, Perlmutter, Pingree, Rush, Schakowsky, Slaughter, Speier, and Wasserman Schultz.

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