I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 899

To provide funds for child care for low-income working families, and for

other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 27, 1997

Ms. WOOLSEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To provide funds for child care for low-income working

families, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Working Families Child Care Act of 1997’’.

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for

7 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Findings.

Sec. 3. Authorization of appropriations for child care for low-income working

families and for child care supply shortages.

Sec. 4. Expenditures for child care service for low-income working families and

for child care supply shortages.

Sec. 5. Report on access to child care by low-income working families.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress makes the following findings:

3 (1) Availability and affordability of quality child

4 care is a major obstacle for working parents who

5 struggle to remain self-sufficient.

6 (A) Compared to all other income groups,

7 the working poor are the least likely to receive

8 assistance with their child care costs.

9 (B) Low-income families spend 24 percent

10 of their household income on child care, where11 as middle-income families spend 6 percent of

12 their household income on child care.

13 (C) 38 States have waiting lists for child

14 care for the working poor. Among those States,

15 Georgia has 41,000 individuals on its waiting

16 list, Texas has 36,000 individuals on its waiting

17 list, and Illinois and Alabama each have 20,000

18 individuals on their waiting lists.

19 (D) One survey of low-income families on

20 a waiting list for subsidized child care found

21 that of those families paying for child care out

22 of their own funds, 71 percent faced serious

23 debt or bankruptcy.

24 (E) Half of the States and the District of

25 Columbia, even before the enactment of the

26 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
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1 Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–

2 193, 110 Stat. 2105) during the 104th Con3 gress, increased the proportion of child care

4 slots or dollars going to families on welfare,

5 rather than to working poor families.

6 (2) The Congressional Budget Office estimates

7 that there will be $1,400,000,000 less expenditures

8 of child care funds for working poor families as a re9 sult of the States implementing the work require10 ments imposed under the Personal Responsibility

11 and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996

12 (Public Law 104–193, 110 Stat. 2105).

13 (3) Important types of child care are not avail14 able in certain States including infant care, school15 age care, care for children with disabilities and spe16 cial health care needs, and child care for parents

17 with unconventional or shifting work hours.

18 (A) A 1995 State study by the Comptroller

19 General of the United States found a shortage

20 of child care for infants and children with spe21 cial needs in inner cities, and a shortage of all

22 types of child care in rural areas.

23 (B) Only one-third of the schools in low-in24 come neighborhoods offer school-age child care,
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1 compared with 52 percent of schools in more

2 affluent areas offering such care.

3 (C) Eighth-graders who are left home

4 alone for 11 or more hours a week report sig5 nificantly greater use of cigarettes, alcohol, and

6 marijuana than eighth-graders who are not left

7 home alone.

8 (D) Existing child care arrangements do

9 not accommodate the work schedules of many

10 working women. According to a 1995 statistic

11 published by the Department of Labor,

12 14,300,000 workers, nearly 1 in 5 full-time

13 workers work nonstandard hours, and more

14 than 1 in 3 of those workers are women.

15 (E) Only 10 percent of child care centers

16 and 6 percent of family day care providers offer

17 child care on weekends. Yet one-third of work18 ing mothers with annual incomes below the pov19 erty level and one-quarter of mothers with an20 nual incomes above the poverty level but below

21 $25,000 work on weekends.

22 (F) Less than 30 percent of Head Start

23 programs operate on a full-time, full-year basis.
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1 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR CHILD

2 CARE FOR LOW-INCOME WORKING FAMILIES

3 AND FOR CHILD CARE SUPPLY SHORTAGES.

4 Section 658B of the Child Care Development Block

5 Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858) is amended—

6 (1) by inserting ‘‘(excluding subparagraphs (E)

7 and (F) of section 658E(c)(3))’’ after ‘‘subchapter’’,

8 (2) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ before ‘‘There’’, and

9 (3) and by adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(b) There is authorized to be appropriated to pro11 vide child care services under this chapter to satisfy the

12 requirement specified in section 658E(c)(3)(E)

13 $1,400,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1997 through

14 2002.

15 ‘‘(c) There is authorized to be appropriated to carry

16 out child care activities under this chapter to satisfy the

17 requirement specified in section 658E(c)(3)(F)

18 $500,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1997 through

19 2002.’’.

20 SEC. 4. EXPENDITURES FOR CHILD SERVICES CARE FOR

21 LOW-INCOME WORKING FAMILIES AND FOR

22 CHILD CARE SUPPLY SHORTAGES.

23 (a) REQUIRED STATE EXPENDITURES.—Section

24 658E(c)(3) of the Child Care Development Block Grant

25 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(3)) is amended by add26 ing at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘(E) CHILD CARE FOR CERTAIN LOW-IN2 COME WORKING FAMILIES.—A State shall en3 sure that 100 percent of amounts paid to the

4 State out of funds appropriated under section

5 658B(b) with respect to each of the fiscal years

6 1997 through 2002 shall be used to provide

7 child care services for families who have left the

8 State program of assistance under part A of

9 title IV of the Social Security Act because of

10 employment, families that are at risk of becom11 ing dependent on such assistance program, and

12 low-income working families described in section

13 subparagraph (D).

14 ‘‘(F) CHILD CARE SUPPLY SHORTAGES.—

15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A State shall en16 sure that 100 percent of amounts paid to

17 the State out of funds appropriated under

18 section 658B(c) with respect to each of the

19 fiscal years 1997 through 2002 shall be

20 used to carry out child care activities de21 scribed in clause (ii) in geographic areas

22 within the State that have a shortage, as

23 determined by the State, in consultation

24 with localities, of child care services.
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1 ‘‘(ii) CHILD CARE ACTIVITIES DE2 SCRIBED.—The child care activities de3 scribed in this clause include the following:

4 ‘‘(I) Infant care programs.

5 ‘‘(II) Before- and after-school

6 child care programs.

7 ‘‘(III) Resource and referral pro8 grams.

9 ‘‘(IV) Nontraditional work hours

10 child care programs.

11 ‘‘(V) Extending the hours of pre12 kindergarten programs to provide full13 day services.

14 ‘‘(VI) Any other child care pro15 grams that the Secretary determines

16 are appropriate.’’.

17 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

18 658E(c)(3)(A) of the Child Care Development Block

19 Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(3)(A)) is amended

20 by striking ‘‘(D)’’ and inserting ‘‘(F)’’.

21 SEC. 5. REPORT ON ACCESS TO CHILD CARE BY LOW-IN22 COME WORKING FAMILIES.

23 (a) STATE REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Section

24 658K(a)(2) of the Child Care Development Block Grant

25 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858i(a)(2)) is amended—
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1 (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ at

2 the end; and

3 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (E), the

4 following:

5 ‘‘(F) the total number of families described

6 in section 658B(b) that were eligible for but did

7 not receive assistance under this subchapter or

8 under section 418 of the Social Security Act

9 and a description of the obstacles to providing

10 such assistance; and

11 ‘‘(G) the total number of families described

12 in section 658B(b) that received assistance pro13 vided under this subchapter or under section

14 418 of the Social Security Act and a description

15 of the manner in which that assistance was pro16 vided;’’.

17 (b) SECRETARIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Sec18 tion 658L of the Child Care Development Block Grant Act

19 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858j) is amended by inserting ‘‘, with

20 particular emphasis on access of low-income working fami21 lies,’’ after ‘‘public’’.

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