Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) are teaming up for a rare bipartisan proposal on child care.
The core of their new plan centers around expanding tax credits that aid families paying for child care and incentivizing businesses to offer child care for employees. The duo made a strategic choice to hone in on a tax solution, hoping they can convince colleagues to add child care measures to a big tax bill expected next year when the Trump tax cuts expire.
“Knowing that tax discussion is going to be such a big part of 2025, we kind of felt like let’s get this out there and that’ll give us some time to build support,” Kaine said.
Kaine, a longtime advocate for child care measures, said his experience with Democrats’ 2021 Covid relief law showed him the tax code was a good vehicle to try to tackle the issue alongside funding efforts. The 2021 law temporarily expanded the child and dependent care tax credit.
Britt told reporters the pair will work to broaden Hill support for their child care bills, which they believe address a problem felt throughout the country.
“I think people are looking for a solution,” Britt said. She added that Republicans’ position is “not wanting to create another entitlement but create an opportunity. And so I think we have hit the mark on that.”
The tax provisions expiring next year from Republicans’ 2017 law already represent trillions of dollars in tax cuts. So it’ll be a challenge but also a big opportunity to get priorities like child care into the mix.
The details: Kaine and Britt split their proposal into two bills. One is focused on expanding tax credits and deductions for child care-related expenses, including refundability of the child and dependent care credit so that more low-income families can benefit. Read it here.
The other bill would create a grant program meant to help attract and retain child care workers and expand the quality and affordability of care. Read it here.
Plus, on trade: In another bipartisan effort, Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) are releasing a discussion draft of their trade facilitation bill today. This builds on a framework that Cassidy put out last month, which was also aimed at streamlining the import and export processes for international trade.
Read the draft bill here. And here’s a one-pager summarizing the text.
