Scott Calls Out Democrats’ Destructive Child Care Proposals at Press Conference

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) led their Republican colleagues at a press conference calling out the destructive child care proposals in the Democrats’ reckless spending bill.

Click to watch the senator’s remarks

Senator Scott’s remarks as delivered:

Thank you, Senator Burr, for leading this important press conference on an issue that is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. It’s simply an American issue.

Imagine, if you will, households across the country and specifically those households in South Carolina—[like the one] I grew up in when I was a kid. Single-parent [households are] waking up to the sense of desperation because your gas prices are up nearly 75 percent, so instead of spending less than $2 a gallon in 2020, you’re now spending over $3.30 a gallon in 2021.

Imagine, if you will, turning your heat up or, likely, turning your heat down to conserve money because your utilities are up 25 percent. And then you wake up to the BBB—as I call it, the “Build Back Broker” plan—and you realize that the bone-crushing, life-changing, hope-stealing, job-killing aspects of the BBB include increasing your child care costs, as Senator Burr said, by $13,000.

To understand the actual impact of the $13,000, you have to first understand that the current cost is over $15,000. So, said in a way that everybody in our nation can understand, with median income around $34,000, you take taxes out, [and] the cost of child care is now more than your take-home pay. Literally, providing child care for one kid is more than the take-home pay of the average income in our nation.

And somehow, we are to celebrate this notion that the government is here to do something for you, when in fact, you know the government is taking something from you. And what are they taking? Your hope, your future, your plans. And so, while we may think of this as an exercise of political philosophy [or] one side versus the other … this is literally an attempt to fundamentally transform what it means to take care of your child in the place you want to send your child, by eliminating options, increasing the cost, and stealing the hope from far too many families who deserve better from their government.

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