The House of Representatives has passed a budget bill that would take away child care assistance from hundreds of thousands of hard-working, low-income families over the next five years. It is hard to imagine a more counterproductive social policy.

Child care assistance provides a vital lifeline for low-income working parents. Care for just one child can easily cost from $4,000 to $10,000 a year — more than tuition at a public university. Low-earning parents can't afford these costs without help.

One study found that single mothers who receive help paying for child care are 40 percent more likely to remain employed after two years than those who receive no help. Former welfare recipients with young children were 82 percent more likely to be employed after two years if they receive help with child care expenses.

Low-income parents that don't have help paying for care are forced into impossible choices: paying other bills late or not at all, going into debt, turning to welfare or other public assistance, or settling for what they clearly know is inadequate care. In some cases this might mean leaving children home alone or putting pre-teens in charge of younger siblings.

Federal child care assistance helps families working in low-wage jobs and families receiving welfare and needing child care to go to work. Unfortunately, for the last three years, federal child care funding has been frozen. Limited funds have led many states to cut back on help to low-income families who are working and struggling to stay off of welfare.

The House budget bill will compound the problem because it adopts a controversial administration proposal to "reform welfare" by imposing very tough work requirements on families receiving welfare. However, it only provides a small fraction of what the Congressional Budget Office estimates is needed to help welfare mothers with their child care costs and keep pace with inflation. If the House bill becomes law, states will be forced to further cut child care for other low-income working families in order to help mothers receiving welfare meet the new work requirements. This means about 330,000 fewer children in working families will receive child care assistance in 2010.

Many governors and other state officials have long objected to this proposal to increase welfare work requirements while at the same time shortchanging child care because they recognize that it would only make it harder for states to help families get jobs and get off welfare.

No bill that was truly about "reforming" welfare would ignore the child care needs of mothers trying to leave welfare and those trying hard to stay off of welfare. Also, it wouldn't deny our poorest children access to the safe and supportive child care and the strong early learning experiences they need to succeed in school.

The House and Senate still have to work out a final agreement on the budget. Congress should reject any provisions that would make life harder for the nation's low-income working families.