Gore Unveils Affordable Child Care Plan for Parents

Calling child care a “national priority,” Vice President Al Gore announced a three-point proposal Tuesday to make it easier for parents to find affordable and high-quality day care.

Speaking to a group of about 25 parents and children at the Children’s All Day School on the Upper East Side, Gore said that, as president, he would provide tax breaks for child care, grants to states to raise day-care standards and incentives to encourage literacy efforts in early childhood education.

“It all comes down to a question of values and what kind of value do we place on the children of this country, how important are they,” Gore told the families crowded in a second-story classroom while heavy rain pelted the streets outside. “I think they’re our future. That’s kind of a cliche, but it’s certainly true. And if we all believe it, we need to put our commitment and our money where our mouths are.”

Gore’s announcement was one in a series of policies he has laid out in the last two weeks to emphasize his commitment to working families. Gore is scheduled to speak about elder care issues in Palm Springs today, and the Democratic officials are expected to begin airing pro-Gore ads this week in key states.

Gore proposed easing qualifications for the current child care tax credit, in which the government pays families to help them offset child care costs. Under the Gore plan, low-income families that don’t qualify for the credit now because they don’t pay any taxes would be able to receive up to $2,400.

In addition, he would let families claim a greater percentage of day-care expenses on their taxes. And he would let parents who stay at home with infants less than 1 year old claim an expense of $500.

The campaign of George W. Bush, Gore’s GOP rival, released a statement Tuesday handing the Democratic candidate a rare compliment.

“Gov. Bush is pleased that the new Al Gore is talking about important issues of substance like child care, rather than in engaging in negative political attacks,” said spokesman Ari Fleischer. “Gov. Bush worked in a bipartisan manner to double low-income child care funding in Texas and strengthen standards and training requirements for child care facilities in Texas.”

The Gore campaign said the $38-billion, 10-year program would help the 13 million young children currently enrolled in child care. The bulk of the funding--about $30 billion--would come out of a $250-billion middle-class tax cut proposal Gore announced last summer. The remaining cost would be funded by the budget surplus, aides said.

Under the “ready-to-learn fund” he would create, Gore said he would provide grants to states that improve the quality and accountability of day-care programs. These states would also be required to set up early childhood reading programs, and the federal funding could be used to provide literacy training and books.

Meanwhile, Democratic National Committee officials are planning to air their first commercials backing Gore starting Thursday, sources said. The 30-second spots are to run through Sunday in markets in 15 states, sources said.

In contrast to the Clinton reelection effort, the DNC is not airing spots in California, at least not yet. Instead, the DNC is focusing on swing states Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois. It is also advertising in Maryland and markets in the South (Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Kentucky) and West (Washington, Oregon and New Mexico) where Clinton fared well.

Some Democrats have been pressing to get the campaign on the air to assist Gore, whose campaign is seen by some party members as flagging. But Gore had challenged Bush to swear off the party-funded ads, which are paid for with unlimited “soft money” donations.

After winning several primaries in March, Gore told Bush he had instructed the DNC not to air any such ads unless the Republican Party or other Bush supporters did first. Gore and Democratic Party leaders now say that Bush never accepted the pledge and note that several GOP-leaning organizations have aired spots attacking Gore.

But the Bush campaign seized on the opportunity to remind Gore of his pledge. “If Al Gore breaks his word by airing these ads, it’s another reminder that the vice president does not hold any convictions that can’t easily be changed,” Fleischer said.