Ben Cardin: “Mr. Speaker, let me thank my friend from Virginia for bringing forward this legislation which I support. I think it is a…”

“Mr. Speaker, let me thank my friend from Virginia for bringing forward this legislation which I support. I think it is a very important change in the flexible spending arrangements that are permitted under the Internal Revenue Code. And I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor) for bringing forward this legislation. Mr. Speaker, as my friend has indicated, this bill would permit a taxpayer to carry forward up to $500 of unused benefits in a dependent care flexible spending arrangement from one year to the next plan year. The flexible spending arrangements are a way that you can use pretax dollars to pay for expenses that are, according to what the policy makers have determined, areas that we want to encourage our constituents to be able to spend. This is in dependent care expenses, to take care of our children. This is certainly an area where it is becoming more and more difficult for working families to be able to afford dependent care for their children. The flexible spending arrangements allow them to use pretax dollars in order to offer some help and assistance.”