Sponsors (27)
Official title: To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to provide funding to sustain and increase the supply and quality of child care, access to child care, and the child care workforce, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 2, 2025 by Danny K. Davis · Last progress April 2, 2025
The bill greatly expands and stabilizes federal child‑care funding and targeted supports for families, workers, tribes, and territories—improving access and workforce capacity—but does so at materially higher federal cost and with new state, local, and tribal administrative requirements and some tradeoffs in flexibility and direct service dollars.
Parents, families, and low-income children nationwide gain substantially expanded subsidized child care through a permanent $20 billion FY2026 baseline (CPI‑indexed) plus a $5 billion annual grant program for high‑need areas, increasing affordability and availability.
Indian tribes and tribal organizations and U.S. territories receive guaranteed set‑asides (5% for tribes, 4% for territories), providing more stable, dedicated child‑care funding for indigenous and territorial communities.
Child‑care workers in targeted areas can get higher pay, wage supplements, bonuses, training, apprenticeships, and scholarships—helping recruitment, retention, and workforce quality.
Taxpayers face substantially higher federal spending obligations from a permanent $20 billion CPI‑indexed baseline plus a $5 billion annual grant program, which could raise taxes or crowd out other budget priorities.
State and local lead agencies will face significant new administrative burdens (rapid absorption of large transfers, new planning and reporting, quarterly payment reporting, and other compliance costs), straining budgets and staff capacity.
New maintenance‑of‑effort and minimum general revenue requirements could constrain state budgets or force reallocations away from other services.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a $20B annual child care entitlement (CPI-U floor) and a $5B annual targeted grant program, with set reservations for tribes, territories, TA, and evaluation.
Increases federal funding for child care by creating a permanent $20 billion annual Child Care Entitlement to States with an automatic CPI-U floor beginning FY2026, and establishes a separate $5 billion annual grant program targeted to improve child care workforce, supply, quality, and access in areas of particular need. The bill reserves set percentages of each appropriation for Indian tribes and tribal organizations, U.S. territories, technical assistance, evaluation, and limited administration, updates definitions and allocation rules, and requires state/tribal lead agencies to describe planned uses for identified high-need areas. The entitlement provision is effective October 1, 2025, and both the entitlement and the new targeted grant program will reshape CCDBG funding flows, increase federal support to states, tribes, and territories, and create new planning and reporting requirements for lead agencies.