
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 28, 1990                   TAG: 9003280319
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

CHILD-CARE NEGOTIATIONS IN CONGRESS BREAK OFF

Efforts to reach a compromise between House Democratic leaders and the Bush administration on child-care legislation collapsed Tuesday, and Democrats scheduled a vote on competing versions this week.

Democratic leaders unveiled their version to the House Rules Committee and moved it toward a floor vote on Thursday, despite Republican protests they had not been given an advance look at the complex, multibillion-dollar bill.

Action was expected on both the leadership's bill and a conservative alternative, although leaders in both parties had said late last week they felt close to a compromise bill after a series of negotiations that included White House officials.

The versions are similar. Both would permit federal subsidies for care provided by religious-based day-care centers - even those that provide religious instruction and base hiring decisions on church membership.

In both, the centerpiece is an earned income tax credit for low-income families with at least one parent working.

But the bills carry different pricetags, and the Democratic leadership bill ran into critical questioning at the Rules Committee over how it would be paid for.

Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill., estimated the cost of the leadership's package at $27 billion over its five-year phase-in. But Rep. Clay Shaw of Florida and other Republicans said their analysis was that the Democrats' bill would cost $31.3 billion over that time.

The alternative sponsored by Shaw and Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas, was estimated to cost just under $20 billion.

by CNB