Sponsors (12)
The bill substantially expands and targets federal child care funding to increase access, quality, workforce supports, and targeted help for tribes, territories, and vulnerable children — but it raises federal spending and creates new administrative, maintenance‑of‑effort, and program design tradeoffs that could shift costs or slow implementation at state, tribal, and local levels.
Families with young children nationwide gain substantially expanded access to subsidized child care through a large mandatory increase ($20 billion in FY2026 with inflation indexing) plus a $5 billion annual competitive grant program targeting high‑need areas.
Child care workers and providers receive funding for wage supplements, bonuses, and professional development, improving recruitment and retention in the sector.
Communities in low‑supply areas get support to expand physical child care capacity via facility start‑up, renovation, and real‑estate assistance.
The legislation increases federal spending materially (mandatory $20B plus $5B annual grants), which may raise budgetary pressure or require offsets, with implications for taxpayers and fiscal policy.
States, territories, and tribes face increased administrative burden from new application, planning, reporting, evaluation, and integration requirements, which could strain smaller agencies and slow implementation.
Minimum general revenue maintenance‑of‑effort requirements could pressure state budgets and crowd out other state spending priorities.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Appropriates $20B for the Child Care Entitlement in FY2026 (CPI-indexed thereafter) and creates a separate $5B/year grant program for child care workforce, supply, quality, and access with tribal and territory set-asides.
Official title: 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 3, 2025 by Ronald Lee Wyden · Last progress April 3, 2025
Provides large, new federal funding for child care by raising the Child Care Entitlement to States to $20 billion for FY2026 (then indexed to inflation or higher) and by creating a separate $5 billion-per-year grant program to improve child care workforce, supply, quality, and access in high-need areas. Both funding streams include set-asides for tribes, U.S. territories, technical assistance, evaluations, and limited administrative costs, and they require integration with existing Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) programs. The bill makes technical and definitional updates to the Social Security Act child care entitlement, creates allocation formulas for states/tribes/territories, allows redistribution of unused tribal funds, and takes effect October 1, 2025.