Blake Moore: “I thank Ranking Member Waters for yielding. I rise in support of H.R. 3700, as amended by Ranking Member Waters. This is…”

“I thank Ranking Member Waters for yielding. I rise in support of H.R. 3700, as amended by Ranking Member Waters. This is what you call regular order, folks. This bill came out of committee with a significant flaw that would have had a very negative impact on families and children and the ability of low-income people to deduct childcare expenses. If it were not fixed, it would have effectively raised rent on thousands of low-income families with children. I just want to commend my colleagues, Ms. Waters and Mr. Cleaver--Ms. Waters in particular--for really catching this flaw. But I also want to commend the Republicans who, instead of just taking their position as being in the majority and saying ``we don't have to listen to you,'' continued to engage with us to fix this. Literally, the math did not work out. I can tell you as once a single parent and as a grandmother, I know about the budget-busting cost of child care. I also know how central housing policy and access to child care is critical to positive social outcomes for children. So often we demand that poor people, and especially women, pull themselves up by their bootstraps. We have programs that are designed to help them. But then what we do is we put program features in place that really cancel out the benefits of these programs. But this bill, H.R. 3700, as amended by the ranking member, eliminates the unintended consequences for poor people who are raising children.…”