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U.S. Senators Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Tim Kaine’s recently introduced child care package has already received substantial support from organizations that advocate on behalf of children, families, small businesses, and more. Their legislation, the Child Care Availability and Affordability Act and the Child Care Workforce Act, together form the boldest bipartisan proposal to make child care more affordable and accessible by strengthening existing tax credits to lower child care costs and building the supply of child care providers.
“I am so excited to see the broad, enthusiastic outpouring of support for our child care legislation,” said Senator Britt. “With our bipartisan introduction and this immediate strong showing of support, we are sending a message to the American people that we can and will get the job done to improve accessibility and affordability when it comes to child care. This legislation would empower families to keep more of their hard-earned money, strengthen opportunities for children to reach their full potential, and help local small businesses and critical American industries thrive. Simply put, this is a win-win. I’ll continue to fight on behalf of parents to enact this critical legislation into law.”
“We know that childcare is an essential resource for working parents,” said Jon Barganier, president & CEO of Manufacture Alabama. “Currently, parents in Alabama make up 35 percent of the workforce. When parents have access to high-quality and affordable childcare, employers benefit from reduced absenteeism and productivity loss, increased employee retention, and a greater abundance of skilled workers. We applaud Senator Britt for her vision and leadership to address this major challenge and we are excited about this legislative package which will complement the Alabama Childcare Tax Credit which the Alabama Legislature passed unanimously, and Governor Ivey signed into law earlier this year.”
“Every child needs a strong start to be successful in school and life, and we support this important effort to expand access to the high-quality child care our children need,” said Mark Dixon, president of A+ Education Partnership.
“Accessible and affordable childcare is a critical issue not only here in Alabama, but in communities across the country. BCA has worked diligently to address this challenge by implementing solutions statewide in the development and passage of the Working for Alabama package, which was signed into law this past legislative session. This package includes House Bill 358, the Childcare Tax Credit, that creates tax credits to incentivize employers to fund childcare options and incentivize childcare providers to expand access to care and quality of care. We are proud to support Senator Katie Britt in her efforts to address this problem at the federal level. Alabama thrives when our leaders come together to tackle the issues that matter most,” said Helena Duncan, Business Council of Alabama president and CEO.
“Investing in child care and quality early education is investing in the economy and our present and future workforce,” said Rhonda Mann, VOICES for Alabama’s Children executive director. “We applaud Senators Katie Britt and Tim Kaine for prioritizing investments in child care and early education with their Child Care Availability and Affordability Act and Child Care Workforce Act. This bipartisan child care plan addresses the workforce shortage and high costs of child care in Alabama, problems identified in a report we co-authored, Child Care in Alabama: A Roadmap to Support Alabama’s Parents, Children, Employers and Economy. This package will lower costs for parents and businesses looking to provide child care. While it is one part of the solution to a complex problem, the Britt/Kaine bipartisan child care plan will also bolster the state’s recently enacted Child Care Tax Credit to further strengthen this crucial industry. We urge lawmakers to support passing this legislative package.”
“We applaud the bipartisan leadership of Sens. Kaine, D-VA, and Britt, R-AL, in their joint efforts to identify innovative and impactful policy solutions that will increase access to quality child care for America’s working families,” said Michele Stockwell, president of Bipartisan Policy Center Action. “Choosing where and with whom to leave your child while you are at work is among the most personal choices a parent can make and one that has resulted in parents opting to leave the workforce because of lack of access to quality care. The two bills put forth by the senators today mark a major milestone for the early childhood community and begin to address employer and employee needs, as well as supply-side issues that impact the availability of care.”
“The Bipartisan Kaine-Britt Child Care Proposal is an innovative package that strives to help address the unique challenges facing working parents, employers, and child care providers. By updating our tax code and taking additional measures to increase child care supply, this plan will provide meaningful support to hundreds of thousands of working families across the country. We are so grateful for the bipartisan leadership of Senators Kaine and Britt for reaching across the aisle to find common sense solutions for working families, and we look forward to working with them to get this package over the finish line,” said Sarah Rittling, First Five Years Fund executive director.
The Child Care Availability and Affordability Act is endorsed by A+ Education Partnership, Alabama Arise, Alabama School Readiness Alliance, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Bipartisan Policy Center Action (BPCA), Business Council of Alabama, Care.com, Chamber of Progress, Chamber RVA, Child Care Aware of America (CCAoA), Child Care Aware of Virginia , Children’s Institute, Early Care & Education Consortium (ECEC), Educare Learning Network, First Five Years Fund (FFYF), Gingerbread Kids Academy, Hampton Roads Chamber, Healthy Kids AL, KinderCare Learning Companies, Manufacture Alabama, Metrix IQ, Mobile Area Education Foundation, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), National Child Care Association (NCCA), Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce (NVC), Save the Children, Small Business Majority, Start Early, Third Way, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF), VOICES for Alabama’s Children, Voices for Virginia’s Kids, and American Hotel and Lodging Association. In addition to those groups, the Child Care Workforce Act is endorsed by the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and ZERO TO THREE.
The worsening child care crisis is holding families, child care workers, businesses, and our entire economy back. Across the country, too many families cannot find—or afford—the high-quality child care they need so parents can go to work and children can thrive. Over the last three decades, the cost of child care has increased by 220 percent, forcing families—and mothers, in particular—to make impossible choices. More than half of all families live in child care deserts. Meanwhile, child care workers are struggling to make ends meet on the poverty-level wages they are paid and child care providers are struggling to simply stay afloat. The crisis—which was exacerbated by the pandemic—is costing our economy dearly, to the tune of $122 billion in economic losses each year.
Specifically, the Child Care Availability and Affordability Act would make child care more affordable by:
- Increasing the size of the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) and making it refundable, allowing lower income working families with out-of-pocket child care expenses to benefit from the credit for the first time. The proposal substantially expands the maximum CDCTC to $2,500 for families with one child and $4,000 for families with two or more children.
- Strengthening the Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) to allow families to deduct 50 percent more in expenses (up to $7,500).
- Allowing eligible families to benefit from both the DCAP and the CDCTC when their child care expenses exceed the DCAP threshold. This will have big benefits for middle income families who currently do not access the CDCTC but have particularly high child care costs.
- Radically bolstering the underutilized Employer-Provided Child Care Tax Credit—commonly referred to as 45F—to encourage businesses to provide child care to their employees. The Kaine-Britt plan would increase the maximum credit from $150,000 to $500,000, and the percentage of expenses covered from 25 percent to 50 percent. The legislation also includes a larger incentive for small businesses—a maximum credit of $600,000—and allows for joint applications for groups of small businesses who want to pool resources.
Because many child care providers are forced out of the industry by low wages—which makes it even harder for families to find affordable child care—the Child Care Workforce Act would make it easier to access child care, by establishing a competitive grant program for states, localities, Tribes, and Tribal organizations that are interested in adopting or expanding pay supplement programs for child care workers to increase supply and reduce turnover. Within that program:
- Grantees would provide supplements, paid out at least quarterly, directly to both home-based and center-based licensed child care providers licensed by the state.
- There would be a required evaluation of impacts on turnover, quality of child care, availability of affordable childcare, and alleviating the financial burden on child care providers. Model programs exist in Virginia, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Maine, and the District of Columbia, with evaluations demonstrating large effects on the supply of workers, educator turnover, and worker well-being and satisfaction.
Full text of the Child Care Availability and Affordability Act (S.4874) and the Child Care Workforce Act (S.4880) are available here and here, respectively.
Britt is committed to supporting families throughout all seasons, including early childhood development. To support families and women, she has introduced the More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed (MOMS) Act. She has also cosponsored the Childcare Worker Opportunity Act, NIH IMPROVE Act, and Rural Obstetrics Readiness Act.
Britt is also at the forefront of the Senate working on legislation that empowers parents to better address the mental health crisis exacerbated by social media. She introduced the Youth Mental Health Research Act and the Kids Off Social Media Act.
