"Businesses have changed in the past to attract women into the work force. Some of these past changes were maternity leave, part-time work for mothers, work at home on computers, and more flexible hours. Now they need to further adapt to keep these women in the work force. They need to add on-site daycare or subsidies to pay for the parents choice of daycare." OR

"With the growing demand for more workers with stronger qualifications, it would be advantageous for businesses to attract such prospective employees with tempting child care facilities. The passage of the ABC bill would remove this pressure and place it, once again, on the government's shoulders. . . In 1987, there were 100 employer-operated day care services. Now, 3,300 businesses offer day care to their employees." OH

"Each business with more than 150 workers should provide a child care service for their employees. This service would include all day care, or before and after school care. This service should be offered at minimal cost. It should cost the employee approximately the same that it costs the company. In that way, the company would not make money on the project, but it would also not lose money. However, the long term effect this should show would be increased productivity and a more efficient worker. The employee does not have to worry about finding a service for their children if one is offered." MI

"Some families have to have each parent working full time hours so new programs are sprouting in the business world." AL

"Women should receive full pay for maternity leave and should be able to take six months to a year's leave of absence."PA

"Pretaxing could be made available to companies. This can benefit both the employee and also the employer. Suppose an employee makes $500 per week and must spend $100 per week on day care services; pretax allows this person to pay tax on only $400 per week. The employer then benefits by only having to pay Social Security on the $400 the employee must pay taxes on. It seems to be a program that would work very well for both the employee and the employer." WI

"The government and businesses, along with parents, have a responsibility to the younger generation to provide the best care possible." KS

"The role of the government regarding child care should be that of providing help for (employers) who can not take care of their employees by providing child care for them. it would be a smart investment for (employers), and it would attract more and better workers and clients." CA

"As already shown in trials by many companies, when child care was subsidized by the companies and offered at the place of work, the benefits far outweighed the costs, in declining turnover, absenteeism, and tardiness. The pressure put on businesses is increasing and will continue to increase for the business sector to take care of the need for childcare." AZ

"Many firms are already supplying their employees with child care assistance. These firms have taken in consideration the difficulty of working parents trying to find proper child care. I admire these firms for their understanding." AL

"In the up coming years, more and more employees are going to demand the opportunity to give their families at least as much time or attention as their careers. If they are not satisfied, they ;may look for work elsewhere. Corporations are going to have to do more to get good skilled workers, and they will want to keep them. To do that, we will have to start looking at the whole person, and work on strengthening our understanding of the employee-family relationship. Such an effort will yield long-term dividends." IA

"The companies that help their employees raise better children are increasing the quality of the next generation of workers. When people look at it that way, good family policies can be considered as an investment in America's economic future." GA

"While some business owners are skittish about child care, others are billing it as the best employee recruitment and retention tool ever discovered." KY

"Companies are going to have to be able to grasp the fact that when employees are being hired the problems of the family and the headaches are hired also."OH

"There is no question then that inexpensive child care will be in great demand and should be a priority for the people of the U.S. But it should not be taken on by the government. It is the duty of the private industries of America." OR

"I believe that more private businesses should show leadership with child care by recognizing the existing need, by surpassing government standards, and by seeing the results of improved employer-employee relationships. . .Many people believe that the government should improve child care. However, the people leading the way should be the employers, not politicians." KS

"The government should concentrate the bulk of their allocated child care funds to the organization of child care services at or near major centers of work. In turn the government could offer large tax deductions to major companies which choose to incorporate such services into their work place." OR

"The answer to this problem does not lie in the hands of the state and/or federal government but in the hands of the industry, plant, or place of employment of the parent(s)." AL

"I believe we should give equal jobs to women as to men, but we have to remember that pregnancy is a natural part of a woman's life. Employers should understand this and willingly give women at least a month off from work before and after pregnancy. . . If companies are truly willing to accept women in the working place they have to accept every part of them."NE

"If the government is demanding that women be in the workforce they should provide a day care at the place of business for the mother to visit her children." KS

"As an increasing amount of women enter into the work force, it is the role of the government to provide child care for their children." CA

". . . the government could play a positive role in the workplace by helping companies offer day care programs. The payoff would be a hard-working, talented workforce that would be a significant contribution to the growth of our economy. . .I do not want the government to become too involved. . .It could even become a 'waste' of taxpayer's money by becoming a type of social welfare. This would be detrimental to people who rely on such a program. If this type of program is going to work, it will have to be extensively planned and experimented with before employers, taxpayers or the government will accept it." OK

"But probably the best solution is a combination of direct legislative aid to low-income families and an increase in corporate day care programs for working parents." OH

Some Would Even Advocate Force . . .

"My question to Mr. Bush is why not mandate leave policies? Big business would not give off time for a parent to care for a newborn child unless made too. Big business often thinks of their employees as numbers, not as warm human beings." IL

"First, the mandatory leave should be at least four months for the new parents. Second, the parents should receive 75 percent of their current wages during leave. Third, the jobs of the parents should be guaranteed so that they can return to work. Fourth, the parents should also be granted three weeks a year of sick leave to care for a new child or sick parent. The sick leave should be fully paid leave. Fifth, the government should also build child care facilities on a need basis. Last, the government should also require the large private enterprises to provide child care facilities for the employees' children during working hours." KS

"I think the government should make it mandatory that companies provide child-care aid to those who need it." MT

"Those businesses with employees having children would pay so much a week to help the government provide for the children. If the businesses do not like the new law and do not want to pay for it, the government can place a strict fine on them. People who know that the company does not want to help its employees are not going to do business with them. Why would the company do something good for them if it will not help its workers? The owners of these businesses know they cannot stay open without workers and consumers who have trust in them." TX

"Lawmakers could also stop dreaming up new taxes. Instead, put that creativity into laws that place standards on childcare, initiate government guidelines and, impose strict fines on businesses that don't put childcare in their buildings." OK

"All businesses should, by law, send in a list of how many child raising employees they have working for them, and the age in which the child is, if that total reaches a certain amount they must begin a child care center." TX

"I think a law requiring large businesses to have on-site day care as an employee benefit would be beneficial. For those who are not employed by a large company, I think that there should be low-priced government day care centers with reliable supervision and a reduced rate for low income families should be provided. To pay for this, there might have to be an increase in taxes or perhaps have money funnelled out of another source into this program." CA

Others Aren't So Sure . . .

"It can pass laws to force all companies to provide facilities or make arrangements with local day care centers, but this may seem unreasonable. A better way would be to offer tax breaks for companies which houses a day care facility and let them deduct the cost of running it." WI

"I feel that government should not try to compel businesses to provide child care opportunities. Instead of 'punishing the bad', they should 'reward the good' by giving tax incentives to companies who have child care programs. It seems that this method would probably be more receptive to both small and large companies. This approach would encourage these types of programs and be a step in the right direction." TN

"Also, offering child care services may promote childbearing which may not be exactly what the employer wants." AZ

Some Even Think Self-Reliance Is Commendable And Uniquely American . . .

"The United States is alone among all other industrialized countries in that working mothers and fathers rely on their own resources, and on the good will of their employees, rather than the government regulations and programs, to obtain health insurance coverage for their families, take time away from work for maternity leave, arrange child care and meet the many other responsibilities they have as parents." TX

"I also feel that the responsibility does not all land in the hands of the government. Parents need to get actively involved. I feel this is a problem in today's society. The parents are so busy with work and other things that they do not take the time to get involved. Most parents drop their child off, pick them up, and that is it. As a parent, it is your job, not only the governments, to make sure the center is fit." TN

"The paternalistic and patronizing Congress also meddles and interferes in the lives of citizens, citing the apparent lack of problem solving on the part of the people, thereby preventing the evolution of solutions at the lowest leve. Necessity is the mother of invention. The people will come up with their own solution if they have to." OK

"The United States government should be concerned with the welfare of its citizens but I don't believe that it should grant any more money to child-care programs or force businesses to provide day care. . Why squander money on programs that private citizens should pay for themselves?" OR

"I have no objections to helping people, but I am against helping people that can obviously help themselves. Many parents won't have children because they can't afford their expenses. Maybe if people would think ahead a little bit, this problem would not even exist. Their children are their expense and responsibility; it's not mine, yours or the governments'." OK

"Granted, the federal government should take an active interest in the lives of the citizens of the United States, but it should not subsidize the lifestyle of each and every citizen. The government need not waste valuable resources to create and enforce policies that individual citizens should be caring for on their own. Our great nation was founded on individualism and the right to conduct business and personal affairs as each citizen sees fit. We must realize these truths and allow our citizens to provide for themselves and their families." OR

"Even though my sister's school is private, my mom didn't have to pay a lot of money for the extra benefits that my sister has. The school stays afloat by fund raising. This way the town is involved and the parents are as well. This gives the child care a warm and caring feeling to it. Basically our town's motto is, 'He who doesn't have shall receive from someone who does.'" CT