Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we are in the process of sorting out the amendments that are pending, again, to see what we could accept by UC, what we could accept by voice vote, and those that might require a rollcall vote. The chairman and the ranking member of the committee, Senator Harkin and Senator Alexander, are discussing this, and we are looking forward to some type of votes on or about 11:30 a.m. But I see there are a lot of amendments out here about streamlining this and duplicating this and others--very thoughtful--but I wish to clarify exactly what is the Child Care and Development Block Grant Program. This is a program that meets a particular need to help people have access to childcare, and we are strengthening the quality requirements. It does not solve all of the childcare problems in the United States of America. The overall need of childcare for both poor women and middle-class women or families is well known. It is one of the agonizing choices families need to make. The Child Care and Development Block Grant Program--and this is why we are looking at a variety of other issues. We have on the books the childcare tax credit bill, where many of us hope to expand the deduction. Senator Gillibrand has others. But today we are focusing on the child care and development block grant. It is the primary Federal grant program to provide childcare assistance for working families. It was passed originally in 1990, under George Herbert Walker Bush.…”