{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.bennet.senate.gov/2024/09/26/press-releases-id-db61550c-60ae-41e2-ba19-09862659dd20/", "Bennet, Blackburn Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Expand Employer Child Care Tax Credit", "2024-09-26", "2024", "2024-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "CO", "Michael F. Bennet", "B001267", "www.bennet.senate.gov", "bennet", "https://www.bennet.senate.gov/news/page/", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), members of the Senate Committee on Finance, introduced the bipartisan Child Care for American Families Act to strengthen the employer-provided child care credit and expand support for small and rural businesses.\n\n\u201cChild care costs are rising nationwide, and countless families lack access to affordable, high-quality child care. This makes things that much harder for working parents, strains families\u2019 budgets, and adds undue stress for families with young children,\u201d said Bennet. \u201cThe Child Care for American Families Act will help increase our country\u2019s child care supply and reduce the number of Americans in child care deserts.\u201d\n\n\u201cMany families across Tennessee and America are struggling to find reliable and affordable child care, and we need to incentivize businesses to invest in child-care services for their employees,\u201d said Blackburn. \u201cOur Child Care for American Families Act would help alleviate the financial burden of child-care costs by expanding and modernizing the Employer-Provided Child Care Tax Credit.\u201d\n\nThis legislation expands the employer-provided child care credit and increases the existing credit to:\n\n60 percent for businesses in eligible rural areas, for a maximum total credit of $1.2 million annually;\n\n50 percent for small businesses, for a maximum total credit of $1 million annually; and\n\n40 percent of the first $2 million in qualified child care expenses for a maximum total credit of $800,000 annually.\n\nThe legislation also directs the U.S. Department of the Treasury to issue guidance on multi-employer facilities.\n\nIn 2018, the Center for American Progress found that more than half\u2014an estimated 51 percent\u2014of the U.S. population lived in a childcare desert, with disproportionate impacts felt by low-income communities, Hispanic communities, and other communities of color. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, 31.7 percent of children below the age of six with working parents do not have access to child care, while in rural communities, that number rises to 35.1 percent. According to the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University and the National Women\u2019s Law Center, increased investment in affordable child care would increase the number of women working full-time by 17 percent; this number jumps to 31 percent for women without a college degree.\n\nBennet has continuously worked to expand the Child Tax Credit to help families afford the rising cost of raising kids. Last year, Bennet joined House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) to call on the Internal Revenue Service to improve outreach promoting awareness of the Employer-Provided Child Care Credit. In 2021, Bennet also introduced the Military Childcare Expansion Act to expand access to child care for servicemembers and their families.\n\nThe legislation is endorsed by Save the Children, Colorado Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC), Kindercare, Early Care & Education Consortium (ECEC), and BPC Action.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:46:43Z"]], "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://www.bennet.senate.gov/2024/09/26/press-releases-id-db61550c-60ae-41e2-ba19-09862659dd20/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9026108309626579, "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"}