Press Releases

The Child Care Investment Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Congressman Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24) and Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR-05) earlier this year to increase access to affordable child care, is winning new support in Washington and in Congress.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce formally endorsed the legislation to improve three existing child care tax incentives to ensure the federal tax code adequately addresses the current realities of child care costs and availability.

“The US Chamber of Commerce has long supported actionable, bipartisan solutions in Congress to help address the nation’s childcare crisis," said Cheryl Oldham, Vice President, Education Policy at the U.S. Chamber. "We thank Congressman Carbajal and Congresswoman Chavez-DeRemer for introducing this important bipartisan bill. This legislation would improve the availability of tax credits for both large and small businesses and working families, increasing access to quality, affordable childcare. We applaud your efforts to provide businesses with additional resources to recruit and retain workers by enhancing the Employer-Provided Child Care Credit (45F), the Dependent Care Assistance Program, and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.”

The bill now has nine bipartisan cosponsors in the House: David Valadao (R-CA-22), David Trone (D-MD-06), Shri Thanedar (D-MI-13), Jennifer McClellan (D-VA-04), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL-23), Ann Kuster (D-NH-02), Susie Lee (D-NV-03), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-05), Seth Magaziner (D-RI_02), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA-03).

“Child care is not just a family issue. It is an economic issue,” said Rep. Carbajal. “I’m proud to earn the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the backing of many of my colleagues, showing that there is growing support for updating our tax code to ensure every Central Coast family can get access to quality, affordable child care.”

“The cost of child care in Oregon soared as much as 37 percent from 2020 to 2022. As pandemic-era funding dries up, providers will likely raise prices even higher – leaving it further out of reach for families. As a parent, I know this is a difficult issue, and I don’t want moms and dads to have to choose between staying at home full time and working or going to school,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “We must act quickly to avoid further economic hardship, and that’s why I’m honored to continue working with Congressman Carbajal on the bipartisan Child Care Investment Act. As our strong coalition of support continues to grow, we are moving closer to enacting commonsense tax improvements that will help families offset skyrocketing child care expenses. I’ll continue working to ensure parents don’t have to worry about breaking the bank to pay for child care.”

The bill is also backed by the Bipartisan Policy Center, First Five Years Fund, Early Care & Education Consortium, Learning Care Group, Save the Children, KinderCare, National Association of Women Business Owners, and the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce, Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce, and Ventura Chamber of Commerce.

Background:

The Child Care Investment Act improves three existing child care tax incentives to ensure the federal tax code adequately addresses the current realities of child care costs and availability.

·        The bill expands a tax credit aimed at helping businesses provide child care to their workers by increasing the credit’s rate and caps, allowing businesses to jointly create and operate a child care facility for their employees, and adding in-home services as an eligible use.

• Currently, the Employer-Provided Child Care Credit only allows for a business to receive tax credits for contracting with an existing child care provider or creating their own facility.

·        The bill doubles the amount of money that can be saved by a family in a tax-exempt Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DCAP) to cover child care expenses up to $10,000 annually, more accurately reflecting the average cost of child care in the U.S.

• The bill also allows an additional $2,000 in DCAP savings per each additional dependent.
• The current $5,000 annual cap has remained unchanged since the 1980s, when the dependent care savings account was first created.

·        The bipartisan proposal also improves the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, an existing tax write-off for Americans to offset child care expenses.

• The current rates would be increased for all eligible incomes, with a family  with two children eligible to get up to $3,000 in credits for child care expenses.
• The bill would also make the credit fully refundable and index the bill’s increased tax credits to inflation.

A more detailed summary of the bill proposed tax credit changes can be found HERE.

The inspiration for this bill came from roundtables held by Rep. Carbajal in July 2022 discussing the impacts of inflation with small business owners in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County, who conveyed that child care was one of their top concerns when it came to current business and hiring conditions.