Sponsors (14)
The bill directs targeted grant funding to expand child care for workers with nontraditional schedules—improving access, stability for children, and employer retention—while tradeoffs include limited scale and duration, a burdensome local match that may exclude under-resourced providers, and startup constraints that risk uneven implementation.
Parents who work nontraditional hours (night, weekend, swing shifts) gain new, targeted grant-funded child care options tailored to their schedules, increasing access to care.
Children of parents with nonstandard schedules get more stable child care options for up to five years through funded programs and expanded provider capacity, improving continuity of care.
Employers and small businesses may better retain and stabilize employees with nonstandard schedules if onsite or flexible child care is established or expanded with grant support.
Eligible grant recipients must provide a 25% non‑Federal match, which will likely exclude under-resourced providers and communities unable to raise matching funds.
Pilot grants are limited to five years and non‑renewable, meaning families and providers could lose newly built capacity if follow-on funding is not obtained.
Caps on individual grants ($25,000–$500,000) and a very small statutory reservation (0.25% of appropriations) could constrain the program's scale, leaving many communities—especially larger or rural areas—underserved.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes a competitive 5-year pilot grant program ($25K–$500K grants) to expand child care for families with parents working nontraditional hours, with a 25% non‑Federal match.
Introduced February 11, 2026 by Ashley Hinson · Last progress February 11, 2026
Creates a competitive five-year pilot grant program to expand or start child care programs that serve families where a parent works nontraditional hours (evenings, nights, weekends, or variable schedules). Grants of $25,000–$500,000 will support capacity expansion, enrollment-based contracts, planning, onsite workplace child care, and related activities, with a 25% non‑Federal match and required HHS reporting. The Department of Health and Human Services must set up the pilot within 90 days of enactment, report to Congress at least every two years on services and impacts, and may reserve up to 0.25% of certain child care appropriations for FY2027–FY2031 to run the program; the bill also makes conforming renumbering and cross-reference changes in existing child care law.