Senate OKs Expanded Child Care : $1.75-Billion Plan Faces a Flurry of GOP Amendments

WASHINGTON —  Capping a bitter, week-long debate on child care, the Senate Thursday approved a $1.75-billion, Democratic-backed measure that would expand day care programs across the nation and distribute the majority of funds to low-income parents.

Republicans, however, vowed to offer a flurry of amendments before the Senate takes a final vote on the bill and sponsors said that the sweeping legislation is likely to undergo significant changes.

“There are thousands of working parents who need this assistance, who have no choice about going to work and seeking care for their children,” said Sen. Wyche Fowler Jr. (D-Ga.), who joined with other Democrats and a handful of Republicans in voting, 63 to 37, for the measure.

Earlier, the Senate defeated a less costly Republican-backed measure on a 56-44 party-line vote.

Veto Threatened

In recent days, both sides have attacked each other’s proposals angrily and the Bush Administration had threatened to veto the Democratic plan if it were approved.

Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas and other Republicans charged that the Democratic legislation is too costly and that it would rob parents of the right to choose the best day-care facilities for their children. Dole said that child care “is a family issue, not a government issue . . . we shouldn’t be creating a whole new bureaucracy.”

Tempers eased after Thursday’s votes, however, and leaders on both sides pledged to seek a bipartisan compromise, possibly before the Senate adjourns for its scheduled two-week recess this weekend. Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) has vowed to keep the Senate in session until a final day-care bill is passed.

‘Compromise Package’

“I’m confident that we can put together a compromise package, because there’s a lot of agreement here,” said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), one of the principal architects of the Democratic plan. “I think there’s a real sentiment to get something approved.”

Work is scheduled to begin in the House next week on similar child care legislation.

Currently, the federal government spends an estimated $7 billion each year on child care programs. But much of that is in the form of a tax credit claimed mostly by middle-income parents. Sponsors on both sides believe that more should be done for the working poor.

The competing plans debated by the Senate offer radically different approaches. Under the Democratic proposal that won preliminary approval, $1.75 billion would be distributed to low-income parents for child care, and grants also would be given to states to expand child care programs.

Additional benefits would be distributed in the form of tax credits, including a deduction for health insurance for low-income children. The program would cover eligible children up to age 13. The cost of this part of the program is expected to vary from year to year but could be as much as $2 billion annually, sponsors said.

Under the Republican plan that was voted down, day care would be provided chiefly through tax credits to low-income families. In a departure from the Democratic plan, tax credits would be offered to nonworking parents who stay at home to take care of their children. The government also would distribute some $400 million annually to the states for unspecified child care programs.

The Democratic proposal, based on the number of potentially eligible children in each state, would allocate $168.4 million annually to California. The Republican-backed plan would have provided $46.6 million to the state.

Dole and other Republicans portrayed the Democratic measure as a “big government” bill that would severely limit the kind of child care parents could choose. Democrats countered that their legislation would permit parents to select a variety of day-care facilities for their children, subject to licensing standards adopted by individual states.

“We don’t mandate (federal) standards,” Dodd said. But some state standards are needed, he added, because “if your car and your pet are protected by state standards, your children deserve the same.”

Both sides agreed that there may be a legal problem with a key provision in the Democratic bill that governs the use of federal funds by religious-oriented child care providers. Under the Democratic plan, the government may not provide funds to such groups unless parents received child care assistance from states in the form of certificates or vouchers.

Dodd said that this provision may be vulnerable to legal attack on the grounds that it violates the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state. But he noted that an “overwhelming majority” of his colleagues wanted such language because a large number of child care providers are based in religious facilities, such as churches and synagogues.

“There is some precedent for this,” he said, noting that the government allowed veterans to attend the college of their choice, including religious-oriented schools, under the GI bill after World War II.