I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1373
To establish a grant program to improve the quality and expand the availabil-
ity of child care services, and of family support services, for families
with children less than 3 years of age; to amend the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 to modify the taxation of income of controlled foreign
corporations attributable to imported property; to amend the Family
and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to cover employers that have more
than 20 employees; to amend the Head Start Act to authorize appropria-
tions for fiscal years 1999 through 2002 and to increase the funds
reserved for services for families with children less than 3 years of
age; and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 17, 1997
Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mr. HOYER, and Mr. MCGOVERN) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the
Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To establish a grant program to improve the quality and
expand the availability of child care services, and of
family support services, for families with children less
than 3 years of age; to amend the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 to modify the taxation of income of con-
trolled foreign corporations attributable to imported
property; to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act
of 1993 to cover employers that have more than 20
employees; to amend the Head Start Act to authorize
appropriations for fiscal years 1999 through 2002 and
to increase the funds reserved for services for families
with children less than 3 years of age; and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Early Learning and
Opportunity Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The first 3 years of life are a critical period
of brain development, intellectual growth, and emo-
tional, social, affective, and moral development, that
help determine the health and productivity of a child
in later life.
(2) Scientific research shows that how individ-
uals function from preschool through adolescence
and adulthood hinges to a significant extent on the
experiences children have in their first 3 years of
life.
(3) One in 3 victims of physical abuse is a baby
less than 1 year of age.
(4) In 1993 the National Educational Goals
Panel reported that nearly half of infants in the
United States do not have what they need to grow
and thrive.
(5) High-quality care from a parent or other
adult is necessary to facilitate growth and develop-
ment.
(6) More than 50 percent of mothers with chil-
dren less than 1 year of age are working outside the
home.
(7) More than 50 percent of working women
are not covered by the Family and Medical Leave
Act of 1993, an Act that provides a 12-week, unpaid
parental leave.
(8) The United States is the only industrialized
country in the world which does not provide paid
maternity leave. Thirty developing countries provide
paid maternity leave.
(9) Five million children under age 3 are in the
care of other adults while their parents work outside
the home.
(10) Parents of very young children have few
child care service options. Many cannot afford to
stay home with their children, or to pay for safe,
high-quality developmental child care services.
(11) Statewide and multistate studies have
found that less than 20 percent of child care services
for very young children is of good quality; nearly 50
percent is of such substandard quality that it ad-
versely affects such children’s development and may
put their health and safety at risk.
(12) Families with children less than 3 years of
age are the single largest group living in poverty.
Twenty-five percent of such children, 3,000,000 chil-
dren, are living below the poverty line, are at greater
risk for malnutrition, poor health, and maltreat-
ment, and are less likely to receive the care they
need from parents or other child care service provid-
ers to grow and develop normally.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to improve the quality, and to increase the
availability, of child care services for children less
than 3 years of age,
(2) to improve the affordability of child care
services available to such children,
(3) to improve the quality, and to increase the
availability, of services to assist families to nurture
such children, and
(4) to improve the coordination and effective-
ness of existing programs that provide such services
to such children and their families.