Bush Urges $2.2-Billion Program for Child Care : Hopes to Attract Support of Women With Plan for Low-Income Families but Response Is Mixed

Battling women’s lack of support for his presidential candidacy, Vice President George Bush on Sunday unveiled a proposal to create $2.2 billion per year in federal tax credits for child care and incentives for employers to expand the nation’s day-care network.

The proposal was specifically targeted at low-income families, who, Bush told a convention of Business and Professional Women here, “face the greatest difficulty in meeting the demands of work and family.”

“Today,” he said, “child care is nothing short of a family necessity.”

Under the proposal, a $1.5-billion tax credit would be accorded to families with at least one working parent who have children less than 4 years old. The existing tax break for child-care costs would be expanded to allow low-income families, many of whom now do not qualify for the deduction, to get it.

Additionally, all federal agencies would be required to provide child care and $250 million would be set aside for assorted other programs.

The proposal, which the Bush campaign has polished for two months, was the first major message the likely Republican nominee has directed specifically toward women since his campaign began nine months ago.

It is part of an expanding effort to close the so-called gender gap. Although Bush is holding his own among men, polls show that his Democratic opponent, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, has a lead of as much as 2 to 1 among women voters.

Since about 10 million more women than men are expected to vote in November, their support is crucial. But Bush won a decidedly mixed reception Sunday.

Some convention delegates applauded his proposal, but they also deplored Bush’s failure to mention the equal rights amendment or a family/medical leave bill now before Congress.

As Bush left the auditorium where he delivered his address, many in the audience of several hundred chanted: “ERA, ERA!”

After Bush’s speech, a former Dukakis aide criticized the vice president’s proposals.

“I find it ironic that George Bush has discovered child care, when during the Reagan Administration actual funding for child care declined 28%,” said Alice Travis, the Democratic nominee’s former national political coordinator.

“Where was George when those funds were being gutted?” she asked, playing on a key line from Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s address to the Democratic National Convention.

Four Major Facets in Plan

Bush’s child-care proposal included four major facets:

--A new “children’s tax credit” worth up to $1,000 for each child under 4 who belongs to a low-income family. In the first year, families who make about $10,000 or less would receive the credit; that maximum income would slide upward to about $20,000 in the program’s fourth year, depending on economic conditions.

“We do have to be fiscally responsible,” said Deborah Steelman, Bush’s domestic policy adviser and architect of the plan.

--Expansion of the current sliding tax credit for child-care costs to make the credit “refundable.” Such a designation would allow low-income families who do not make enough money to pay taxes to submit tax returns claiming the credit, which would be issued as a refund. Now, Steelman said, those families cannot claim the credit.

That tax credit is available to parents of all children, not simply those less than 4. Parents eligible for both credits would be allowed the larger one, she said.

--A $50-million program under which all federal agencies would provide their employees with child care.

--A $250-million package to expand Head Start to all needy children--only a fraction of whom are now served--and provide seed money for before- and after-school care programs.

Bush also advocated a federal insurance pool for child-care providers unable to find affordable liability insurance. In the past, insurance problems have been cited as the chief stumbling block to the establishment of day-care centers.

In explaining the new tax credit for children under 4, Bush aide Steelman said its major advantage was that it did not require families claiming the credit to have their children in licensed or formal settings.

Bush himself cited “parental choice” as his guiding principle. But the existing tax credit, which Bush endorsed and wants to expand, limits credits to parents who can show receipts for their child-care costs--a substantial limitation when many children are cared for by relatives or those who offer informal care in the home.

“This was the best thing we could come up with,” Steelman said when asked about the inconsistency.

Uncomfortable Spot for Bush

Like his earlier proposals to expand funding for education, the child-care program placed Bush in the uncomfortable political position of seeking increases in programs curtailed under President Reagan.

Portions of Bush’s plan, such as the refundable credit, have been raised in child-care packages proposed by others, including Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York.

“It may not look that new to some people,” said Beth Wray, president of Business and Professional Women, who nevertheless described herself as “very encouraged” by Bush’s proposal.

Dukakis has endorsed much of a $2.5-billion Democratic plan that would provide funds through the states to needy families for use in licensed day-care centers.

In his address Sunday, Bush struck on several themes of interest to the women delegates, vowing to “vigorously” enforce laws governing equal rights.

No Talk of ERA, Leave Bill

But he explicitly did not mention the ERA or a bill pending in Congress to require employers to give 10 weeks of unpaid leave to employees who must absent themselves because of pregnancy or who have family emergencies. Those items were described by officials of the businesswomen’s group as their highest priorities, and their absence from the vice president’s remarks rankled the group’s leaders.

Steelman said Bush opposes the unpaid leave bill because it is not “flexible” and she suggested that the ERA was an issue of the past.

Betty Forbes, president-elect of the women’s group, bridled at that remark, thereby underscoring Bush’s continuing problems with women voters.

“He may be beyond it,” she said, “but we’re not.”