Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) are unveiling a new child care bill today.
It’s the latest sign of bipartisan momentum to try to make child care more affordable and accessible. Lawmakers are honing in on tax credits as a good strategy to get something done. With many of the 2017 Trump tax cuts expiring next year, there’s a window to get in on what could be a massive tax bill in 2025.
The Bennet-Blackburn bill would significantly expand the employer-provided child care credit. It would offer the biggest boost to businesses in rural and low-income areas, granting benefits of up to $1.2 million per year for providing workplace child care facilities. Small businesses could get up to $1 million, and the maximum for other employers would be $800,000.
Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) also teamed up on a new child care proposal this summer. It’s a more expansive package than the latest Bennet-led legislation. But Bennet and Blackburn’s interest is notable because they both sit on the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee.
The House has its own bipartisan bill to expand tax credits for child care-related expenses. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), who leads that legislation, told us even before the Bennet-Blackburn entry into the mix that he believed momentum was building to get something done in 2025.
Of course, there’ll be a lot of tax cut priorities to contend with next year. Even without new tax credits in the mix, extending the Trump tax cuts would cost trillions. But if there’s divided government next year, bipartisan buy-in will help make child care measures a stronger contender.
Exclusive: Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) is pressing Speaker Mike Johnson on IRS funding in her first move as the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee’s Oversight panel.
In a new letter, Sánchez says she’s concerned the CR that passed on Wednesday could pave the way for more pressure on the IRS budget. That’s because it continues funding at levels from FY2024 appropriations bills, which clawed back IRS funds. The agency lost about $20 billion of an extra $80 billion that Democrats passed in the Inflation Reduction Act in negotiations with the House GOP.
Sánchez argues there’s a possibility that “future appropriation bills using similar language could lead to an anomaly where $20 billion is continually cut from the IRS.”
Here’s more from Sánchez’s letter to Johnson:
IRS funding has become an especially thorny spending issue since Democrats gave the agency extra money focused on enforcing the tax code and cracking down on tax cheats. There’ll be plenty more opportunities — like the lame duck — for Congress to spar over the IRS budget.
