Neal Dunn: “This year, an additional $2 billion will be provided for child care over and above what has been spent in the last 6…”

“This year, an additional $2 billion will be provided for child care over and above what has been spent in the last 6 years in the welfare reform bill. The fact is that the dollars spent for child care over that period of time have tripled. In addition, we want to help the States with their flexibility. If they wish, they can shift up to 50 percent of their TANF funds, $5.5 billion of which remain in State coffers right now, to child care. Why do we do this, Mr. Chairman? We do it because we think that the 1996 welfare reform bill has been tremendously successful. Caseloads are down by 60 percent. Nearly 3 million children have been lifted out of poverty. More people are now on the path to independence. Employment of single mothers has risen by 70 percent, but we know much more needs to be done to bridge the gap between a paycheck and a government handout. We think that if we increase the funding for child care, this will help. It will help a lot. So I maintain, Mr. Chairman, that we must defeat this other bill, and we need to support H.R. 4.”