Child-Care Issue in Presidential Politics
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The short description in The Times of Bush’s child-care proposal must be compared with the Democratic-sponsored Act for Better Child-Care Services bill currently under consideration in Congress. I have some comments and comparisons.
- The Bush proposal does not do anything for single parents who are unemployed. ABC would not discriminate against such persons.
- There is no guarantee that parents with incomes under $10,000 a year would actually use the money for child care.
- Since it would be impractical to enforce the use of the money specifically for child care, the Bush proposal would provide a strong and undesirable incentive for poor families to have large families.
- The Bush proposal would encourage poor parents to use the money to send their children to unlicensed child-care institutions. The ABC bill provides for the licensing and inspecting of facilities.
The Bush proposal is certainly an election-year ploy. Bush knows that even if he is elected, it will be up to Congress to enact his proposal. That will take as long as two years. ALBERT J. SAUR
Woodland Hills
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