BANGOR, ME – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) today joined parents, children, and childcare professionals to discuss challenges facing childcare providers and strategies to make childcare more affordable for Maine families. During the visit, Senator King highlighted the Promoting Affordable Childcare for Everyone (PACE) Act, bipartisan legislation he introduced with Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.) that would improve and modernize the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to help American families pay for childcare.

            “When childcare costs become too expensive, parents too often have to make difficult decisions, like staying home from work, to ensure their children can learn and grow in a healthy environment,” Senator King said. “By modernizing the federal government’s childcare tax benefits and bringing it in line with today’s economy, we can lower the costs of childcare so working parents can adequately provide for their families. The PACE Act is a commonsense solution to this problem that supports our economy and helps families across our state – a win-win for Maine.”

For many families, the cost of childcare can make it difficult to maintain employment and make ends meet. In nearly half of the country, the annual cost of full-time childcare for a 4-year old is greater than the average cost of in-state tuition at a 4-year college or university. Those pressures are felt most by low-wage workers who spend on average more than 30 percent of their income on childcare.

While the federal government provides two significant tax benefits to help offset childcare costs – the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) – they are both in need of an update. For example, neither policies have kept pace with inflation, meaning they have become less useful over time as the cost of childcare has increased.

The PACE Act would enact several changes to make both tax policies immediately more generous and modify them to reflect the changing economic landscape by requiring annual inflation adjustments that will provide families with greater spending power when seeking care for their children. Because both tax provisions affect care for the elderly and individuals with disabilities, those enhanced benefits will extend to them as well.

Following the visit to Coffey Child Development Center, Senator King toured Somic America’s automotive manufacturing facility in Brewer to discuss ways to grow the workforce in Maine and support local manufacturing jobs. He then hosted a roundtable discussion with local first responders and firefighters at the Bangor Fire Department to discuss their priorities for funding and resources, the impact of the opioid epidemic on their work, and the importance of coordination for emergency preparedness.

Senator King ended the day visiting the Maine Veterans’ Home in Bangor and Bangor Veterans Center. During the visits, Senator King met with veterans from the Bangor community and heard from leadership about ways to improve and strengthen veteran services in Maine.

Photo 1: Senator King reads to children at the Coffey Child Development Center in Bangor.

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