Sponsors (13)
Official title: To implement or strengthen programs that increase the supply of quality child care services by enhancing the wages of child care workers, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 4, 2025 by Salud Carbajal · Last progress March 4, 2025
The bill provides targeted wage supplements and supports to attract and retain child care workers—potentially improving affordability and access for families—while relying on a time‑limited, administratively complex pilot with uneven coverage, evaluation uncertainties, and risks of ongoing federal costs.
Low‑wage child care workers will receive regular, direct wage supplements (at least quarterly), increasing their pay and helping reduce turnover.
Parents and families could get more affordable and stable child care as the pilot attracts and retains workers, supporting greater labor force participation.
Indian Tribes and tribal organizations are explicitly included, making tribal communities eligible for funds and increasing access to culturally appropriate care on tribal lands.
Child care workers and families face program instability because wage supplements come from a time‑limited pilot and grants that may end or not be renewed, risking layoffs, wage reductions, or abrupt loss of benefits.
States, Tribes, and federal agencies must absorb significant administrative, application, implementation, and reporting burdens, while a 10% cap on administrative use may constrain effective outreach and delivery.
The program's eligibility definitions and competitive grant structure may exclude child care workers in nontraditional/unlicensed settings and leave some high‑need jurisdictions without support, creating uneven access.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Creates a competitive HHS pilot grant program to fund wage supplements for eligible low‑wage child care workers administered by States, Tribes, and Tribal organizations.
Creates a competitive HHS pilot grant program that pays wage supplements to eligible low-wage child care workers through State, Tribal, and Tribal organization grantees to help recruit and retain workers, improve worker well‑being, raise child care quality, and expand affordable child care availability. Grants may be used mainly for direct wage supplements (with up to 10% for administration, outreach, and financial counseling), require grantee plans for eligibility, delivery, evaluation, and public awareness, and require a report to Congress within two years of program start. Funding is authorized as "such sums as necessary" beginning FY2025; the law takes effect 75 days after enactment.