Sponsors (12)
The bill significantly expands and stabilizes federal child care funding and directs targeted dollars to underserved communities and workforce supports, but it increases federal spending and fiscal obligations while adding administrative requirements and set‑asides that can reduce flexibility and the share of funds reaching local providers.
Parents and families nationwide gain more predictable federal child care funding through a $20 billion baseline for child care with automatic CPI‑U annual increases beginning FY2026, supporting more stable subsidies and program planning.
Communities of particular need get a dedicated $5 billion annual competitive grant program to expand child care supply and quality — including higher pay/retention supports for workers, facility construction/renovation and accessibility upgrades, and prioritization for infants/toddlers, dual-language learners, children with disabilities, homeless and foster children, and low-income families.
Indian tribes and tribal organizations (5% set‑aside) and U.S. territories (4% reservation) are guaranteed dedicated funds each year, improving child care access in tribal communities and territories that have historically been underfunded.
Taxpayers face higher and recurring federal outlays — the $20 billion baseline (with CPI‑U indexing) plus a recurring $5 billion grant program — which increases federal spending and could add to the deficit absent offsets.
Automatic CPI‑U indexing and guaranteed funding increases could crowd out other domestic priorities or create fiscal pressure on federal and state budgets if not offset, forcing tradeoffs in other programs or services.
Set‑asides and administrative/reservation percentages (tribes, territories, federal administration, technical assistance, research) reduce the portion of funds available for general State formula grants and for direct provider support, limiting flexibility for some states and the dollars that reach local providers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Provides $20B/year for the Child Care Entitlement (CPI-U–indexed) beginning FY2026 and creates a $5B/year grant program to expand workforce, supply, quality, and access with set-asides for tribes and territories.
Introduced April 3, 2025 by Ronald Lee Wyden · Last progress April 3, 2025
Provides permanent, higher federal funding for child care by setting the Child Care Entitlement to States at $20 billion per year beginning FY2026, with future annual increases at least equal to the prior year plus changes in the CPI-U. Creates a separate $5 billion-per-year grant program to expand child care workforce, supply, quality, and access in high-need areas, and sets aside portions of each appropriation for Indian tribes, U.S. territories, technical assistance, evaluation, and administration. The bill also updates distribution and redistribution rules for tribal, State, and territorial child care funds and makes technical conforming changes to the Child Care and Development Block Grant statutes.