{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://davids.house.gov/media/press-releases/davids-joins-shawnee-family-day-care-pick-discusses-her-bipartisan-affordable", "Davids Joins Shawnee Family for Day Care Pick-Up, Discusses Her Bipartisan Affordable Childcare Act", "2024-09-06", "2024", "2024-09", "Democrat", "House", "KS", "Sharice Davids", "D000629", "davids.house.gov", "davids", "https://davids.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Yesterday, Representative Sharice Davids accompanied a Shawnee family to pick up their children from day care. Davids then joined the parents, who considered having one of them stay home from work due to high child care costs, to discuss her bipartisan Affordable Childcare Act. The bill doubles three different tax credits, putting money directly in parents\u2019 pockets. According to a report, working parents with young children are spending 24 percent of their income on child care, prompting urgent action to lower child care costs.\n\n\u201cChild care is essential not only for giving kids like Eli and Colby Zigtema a strong start, but also for allowing parents to earn a living and support their families,\" said Davids. \"Growing up with a single mom, I know how much a little extra money in the bank account can mean. That\u2019s why I introduced bipartisan legislation to help the Zigtemas and other hardworking Kansas families afford the quality child care they need.\u201d\n\n\"Child care is by far and away our single biggest expense as a family, and it's a topic of conversation with every parent we know,\u201d said Joe Zigtema and Paige McArdle, local parents. \u201cAllowing working families to pay that expense with pre-tax money is a no-brainer \u00ad\u2014 parents need all the help they can get.\"\n\nDavids\u2019 bipartisan Affordable Childcare Act, which she introduced earlier this year alongside Representative Marc Molinaro (R-NY-19), would:\n\nDouble the Child and Dependent Care Credit, which helps families offset the cost of child care and dependent care expenses, allowing them to claim a percentage of these expenses on their federal income tax return.\n\nThe Affordable Childcare Actdoubles the Credit to $6,000 for one dependent and $12,000 for two or more, helping working families afford child care as costs rise.\n\nDouble the Employer-Provided Child Care Credit, which allows businesses to claim a credit for providing child care facilities or services to their employees, encouraging employers to support their workers' child care needs.\n\nThe Affordable Childcare Actdoublesthe Credit to $300,000 per year, covering 25 percent of qualified child care facility expenses and 10 percent of child care resource and referral expenses, to encourage businesses to invest more in child care.\n\nDouble the amount a person can contribute to a dependent care flexible spending account, which is an employer-sponsored benefit that allows employees to set aside pre-tax money to cover eligible dependent care expenses.\n\nThe Affordable Childcare Act doubles the account contribution limit to $10,000, enabling parents to save and utilize more pre-tax dollars for qualifying caregiving expenses.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:43:57Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://davids.house.gov/media/press-releases/davids-joins-shawnee-family-day-care-pick-discusses-her-bipartisan-affordable"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.858688959851861, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}