Oregon senator asks committee to seek USDA waiver so childcare tax credit can be paid monthly

Senator Cedric Hayden, a state senator from Senate District 6, told the House Committee on Early Childhood and Human Services on April 15 that Senate Bill 64 would direct the Oregon Department of Human Services to request a U.S. Department of Agriculture waiver so childcare tax credits could be paid monthly instead of in an annual lump sum.

Supporters said the change would not increase the total amount of money families receive, only the timing, and would help parents afford childcare as needs arise. "If we were able to, through a waiver, through the USDA, allow people to get their childcare tax credits to them monthly, they could afford to pay childcare," Hayden said during the public hearing.

The bill responds to how the present childcare tax credit is distributed: most eligible households receive the credit as…