Sponsors (2)
The bill targets improved access and quality of early child care for military families through a small, tightly managed pilot with training and incentives, but its limited scale, restrictions on facility expansion, potential budgetary trade-offs, and compliance burdens may constrain how many families ultimately benefit.
Military families with young children gain increased access to publicly supported, high-quality early child care at up to 12 local partnerships near installations.
Children, providers, and military communities benefit from improved child care quality and a more stable workforce because participating providers receive training, resource subsidies, professional development, and DoD-funded recruitment/retention incentives (including for military spouses).
Taxpayers and military leaders gain better visibility into child-care capacity, costs, and unmet need at installations through a centralized administrative system and required reporting.
Many installations and military families may remain without expanded child-care options because the pilot is limited to 12 partnerships, caps one partnership per provider, and partnering providers are barred from building new facilities or cutting civilian slots—constraining geographic reach and long-term capacity growth.
DoD resources used for program administration and incentives could divert military funds or require additional appropriations, potentially imposing costs on taxpayers or shifting priorities within the military budget.
Frequent compliance documentation, short cure/termination cycles, and reporting requirements create administrative burden for participating providers and DoD staff, which could discourage provider participation or increase program overhead.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires DoD to run a pilot forming up to 12 partnerships with child care providers to expand capacity, workforce development, and recruitment/retention for military families.
Introduced June 26, 2025 by Jeanne Shaheen · Last progress June 26, 2025
Requires the Department of Defense to run a pilot program that partners with up to 12 eligible early child care providers or provider networks to expand high‑quality child care capacity and improve workforce recruitment, retention, and development for military families. The pilot limits partnerships to one per provider or network, allows partnerships near installations and with existing DoD programs, provides training and resource subsidies, and sets reporting and compliance requirements for participating providers.