home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
TIME: Almanac 1990
/
1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
/
time
/
101689
/
10168900.055
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1990-09-19
|
3KB
|
53 lines
NATION, Page 36Catching Up on Child CareCongress takes an expensive step toward a national family policy
When Democratic Congresswoman Pat Schroeder arrived in
Washington in 1973 with two young children, she thought it would
be only a year or so until Congress passed a federal child-care
plan. Sixteen years later, Schroeder's children are grown, and the
U.S. still lags far behind most other industrialized nations in
national family policy. House Democrats have taken a big -- and
expensive -- step toward catching up by defeating White House
efforts to weaken legislation to create a national child-care
program.
Once discrepancies in two slightly different plans approved by
the House and a version passed earlier by the Senate have been
ironed out, the program will land on George Bush's desk. The House
version would expand Head Start programs for impoverished
preschoolers, increase tax credits for poor families with three or
more children and require states to set health and safety standards
for child-care facilities. Though the President may grit his teeth,
he may sign the act into law because it is attached to a
budget-reconciliation package that contains a component very dear
to his heart: a reduction in the capital-gains tax.
One reason the President dislikes the Democratic approach is
its cost: $22 billion over the next five years, including $8
billion in direct grants to the states. Another is the conservative
belief that the measure is an unwarranted government intrusion into
family decision making. House minority whip Newt Gingrich denounced
the bill for being "essentially against mothers staying at home."
Such arguments did not sway Democratic lawmakers, who
overwhelmingly voted down a pair of Administration-backed
amendments. One, sponsored by Oklahoma Republican Mickey Edwards
and favored by the White House, would have limited earned income
tax credits for child care to a mere $200 to $300 a year; it was
defeated by a vote of 285 to 140. The White House then tried to
rally support for a compromise devised by Texas Democrat Charles
Stenholm, which would have prohibited the Government from setting
standards for child-care centers and personnel. It went down, 230
to 195. The bill's supporters did agree to one conservative demand,
deleting a ban on federal funds for church-run centers, which now
provide about one-third of all child care.
Democratic resolve was bolstered by the fact that the
legislation will be immensely popular with working mothers, who
spend an average of $3,000 a year per child for care that is often
of uncertain quality. Poor women are especially hard pressed. A
report by the Census Bureau estimates that mothers with annual
incomes of less than $15,000 paid an average of 18% of their income
for child care. Declared Texas Democratic Congressman Michael
Andrews: "We have standards for prisons, roads and airports. We owe
as much to our children."