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[Page H2836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CHILDCARE CRISIS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Porter) for 5 minutes.
Ms. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to talk about an important issue
affecting families across our country, including in my home State of
California.
I am a single mom, and I know firsthand that we have a childcare
crisis in this country. Two years ago, I spent $16,000 on childcare for
my daughter Betsy to attend the U.C. Irvine-Verano Preschool. That is
more than it would have been for an entire year of tuition for her to
be an undergraduate at U.C. Irvine.
I was able to keep $5,000 of the money that I earned pretax to go
toward those childcare expenses in a flexible spending account, but
that didn't go very far to cover childcare for Betsy, never mind my
other two children. The $5,000 doesn't even get me to tax day. This is
the reality of raising a family in Orange County and in so many places
across the country.
In only one State is childcare considered affordable. Let that sink
in. In every State but one, the majority of families have to spend more
than 7 percent of their income on childcare.
My constituents in the 45th Congressional District have asked me to
help them make childcare affordable.
Jennifer, who works in my district, has two children under the age of
3. She and her husband will spend 23 percent of their gross income on
childcare next year. That is not affordable.
In Irvine, Erica and her husband spend $1,350 each month for
childcare for their 3-year-old son. They have access to a flexible
spending account through their employer, but the $5,000 that current
law allows only covers 31 percent of their annual childcare cost.
Even for those with school-age children, the most affordable city-
sponsored camps so parents can work during the summer and spring break,
exceed $5,000. And the cost of eldercare is equally out of proportion
to the current $5,000 limit on the Dependent Care Flexible Spending
Account.
That is why I am introducing the bipartisan Family Savings for Kids
and Seniors Act. This bill will allow families to keep more of their
own paychecks, pretax, to use for the care for kids, grandparents, and
other family members that they incur so that they can work. The bill
does this by adjusting the limit that Americans can put into their
Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts, or FSAs. Families use this
pretax benefit to help pay for preschool, camps, adult daycare, and
childcare.
The $5,000 limit under current law has not changed since it was
enacted in 1986, but childcare costs have certainly risen with the cost
of inflation. There is no reason why a family's ability to save for
dependent care shouldn't have increased with time as well.
If my bill were in effect now, families would be able to put $11,300
in their flexible savings accounts. That is about the average cost of
childcare for one child in this country.
The Family Savings for Kids and Seniors Act offers families a way to
keep more of what they earn to pay for the childcare and eldercare that
allows them to work. The work that parents do adds to the vitality and
the strength of our economy.
Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting
America's working families.
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