Pete Sessions: “I am very proud of the excellent comments that have been made by a group of distinguished Senators today regarding this…”

“I am very proud of the excellent comments that have been made by a group of distinguished Senators today regarding this amendment. It is not an itty-bitty matter; it is a very serious matter. And it reflects a reevaluation by this body of the priorities we are placing on helping families raise children. It reflects a change in what we have been doing, because we have been, in fact, subsidizing one form of child care, a form of child care used by only a few American families, and have been taxing all the other American families to support that one form, which is institutional public day care essentially. And I do not believe that is good policy. As Senator Coats mentioned earlier, mothers want, if they are given a choice, to be at home with their children, for the most part, during their formative years. We know that. Scientists and people also, who have studied this, have concluded that it is better for them to be at home, when they can. So we need to subsidize and support equally all forms of child care, if we do so, and we ought to do it in a way that allows parents the choices that they prefer.”