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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Working Families Child Care Act of 1997’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for
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.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Availability and affordability of quality child
care is a major obstacle for working parents who
struggle to remain self-sufficient.
(A) Compared to all other income groups,
the working poor are the least likely to receive
assistance with their child care costs.
(B) Low-income families spend 24 percent
of their household income on child care, where-
as middle-income families spend 6 percent of
their household income on child care.
(C) 38 States have waiting lists for child
care for the working poor. Among those States,
Georgia has 41,000 individuals on its waiting
list, Texas has 36,000 individuals on its waiting
list, and Illinois and Alabama each have 20,000
individuals on their waiting lists.
(D) One survey of low-income families on
a waiting list for subsidized child care found
that of those families paying for child care out
of their own funds, 71 percent faced serious
debt or bankruptcy.
(E) Half of the States and the District of
Columbia, even before the enactment of the
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–
193, 110 Stat. 2105) during the 104th Con-
gress, increased the proportion of child care
slots or dollars going to families on welfare,
rather than to working poor families.
(2) The Congressional Budget Office estimates
that there will be $1,400,000,000 less expenditures
of child care funds for working poor families as a re-
sult of the States implementing the work require-
ments imposed under the Personal Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996
(Public Law 104–193, 110 Stat. 2105).
(3) Important types of child care are not avail-
able in certain States including infant care, school-
age care, care for children with disabilities and spe-
cial health care needs, and child care for parents
with unconventional or shifting work hours.
(A) A 1995 State study by the Comptroller
General of the United States found a shortage
of child care for infants and children with spe-
cial needs in inner cities, and a shortage of all
types of child care in rural areas.
(B) Only one-third of the schools in low-in-
come neighborhoods offer school-age child care,
compared with 52 percent of schools in more
affluent areas offering such care.
(C) Eighth-graders who are left home
alone for 11 or more hours a week report sig-
nificantly greater use of cigarettes, alcohol, and
marijuana than eighth-graders who are not left
home alone.
(D) Existing child care arrangements do
not accommodate the work schedules of many
working women. According to a 1995 statistic
published 
by 
the 
Department 
of 
Labor,
14,300,000 workers, nearly 1 in 5 full-time
workers work nonstandard hours, and more
than 1 in 3 of those workers are women.
(E) Only 10 percent of child care centers
and 6 percent of family day care providers offer
child care on weekends. Yet one-third of work-
ing mothers with annual incomes below the pov-
erty level and one-quarter of mothers with an-
nual incomes above the poverty level but below
$25,000 work on weekends.
(F) Less than 30 percent of Head Start
programs operate on a full-time, full-year basis.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR CHILD
CARE FOR LOW-INCOME WORKING FAMILIES
AND FOR CHILD CARE SUPPLY SHORTAGES.
Section 658B of the Child Care Development Block
Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(excluding subparagraphs (E)
and (F) of section 658E(c)(3))’’ after ‘‘subchapter’’,
(2) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ before ‘‘There’’, and
(3) and by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(b) There is authorized to be appropriated to pro-
vide child care services under this chapter to satisfy the
requirement 
specified 
in 
section 
658E(c)(3)(E)
$1,400,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1997 through
2002.
‘‘(c) There is authorized to be appropriated to carry
out child care activities under this chapter to satisfy the
requirement 
specified 
in 
section 
658E(c)(3)(F)
$500,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1997 through
2002.’’.
SEC. 4. EXPENDITURES FOR CHILD SERVICES CARE FOR
LOW-INCOME WORKING FAMILIES AND FOR
CHILD CARE SUPPLY SHORTAGES.
(a) REQUIRED
STATE
EXPENDITURES.—Section
658E(c)(3) of the Child Care Development Block Grant
Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(3)) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following:
‘‘(E) CHILD CARE FOR CERTAIN LOW-IN-
COME WORKING FAMILIES.—A State shall en-
sure that 100 percent of amounts paid to the
State out of funds appropriated under section
658B(b) with respect to each of the fiscal years
1997 through 2002 shall be used to provide
child care services for families who have left the
State program of assistance under part A of
title IV of the Social Security Act because of
employment, families that are at risk of becom-
ing dependent on such assistance program, and
low-income working families described in section
subparagraph (D).
‘‘(F) CHILD CARE SUPPLY SHORTAGES.—
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A State shall en-
sure that 100 percent of amounts paid to
the State out of funds appropriated under
section 658B(c) with respect to each of the
fiscal years 1997 through 2002 shall be
used to carry out child care activities de-
scribed in clause (ii) in geographic areas
within the State that have a shortage, as
determined by the State, in consultation
with localities, of child care services.
‘‘(ii) CHILD
CARE
ACTIVITIES
DE-
SCRIBED.—The child care activities de-
scribed in this clause include the following:
‘‘(I) Infant care programs.
‘‘(II) Before- and after-school
child care programs.
‘‘(III) Resource and referral pro-
grams.
‘‘(IV) Nontraditional work hours
child care programs.
‘‘(V) Extending the hours of pre-
kindergarten programs to provide full-
day services.
‘‘(VI) Any other child care pro-
grams that the Secretary determines
are appropriate.’’.
(c) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section
658E(c)(3)(A) of the Child Care Development Block
Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(3)(A)) is amended
by striking ‘‘(D)’’ and inserting ‘‘(F)’’.
SEC. 5. REPORT ON ACCESS TO CHILD CARE BY LOW-IN-
COME WORKING FAMILIES.
(a) STATE
REPORTING
REQUIREMENT.—Section
658K(a)(2) of the Child Care Development Block Grant
Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858i(a)(2)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ at
the end; and
(2) by inserting after subparagraph (E), the
following:
‘‘(F) the total number of families described
in section 658B(b) that were eligible for but did
not receive assistance under this subchapter or
under section 418 of the Social Security Act
and a description of the obstacles to providing
such assistance; and
‘‘(G) the total number of families described
in section 658B(b) that received assistance pro-
vided under this subchapter or under section
418 of the Social Security Act and a description
of the manner in which that assistance was pro-
vided;’’.
(b) SECRETARIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Sec-
tion 658L of the Child Care Development Block Grant Act
of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858j) is amended by inserting ‘‘, with
particular emphasis on access of low-income working fami-
lies,’’ after ‘‘public’’.
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