Sponsors
This bill directs modest federal resources to improve nutrition, physical activity, and capacity in early childhood settings—likely improving child health and food access—while requiring new spending and creating administrative and implementation burdens that could limit reach and favor larger providers, producing uneven benefits across communities.
Children birth–5 in participating early care settings will get improved healthy eating and physical activity supports, reducing obesity risk and supporting healthier development.
Low-income and food-insecure families will gain better connections to nutrition supports through early care programs, improving food access and reducing household food insecurity.
State and local early childhood systems, and participating providers, will receive sustained training and technical assistance that builds capacity and improves program quality over multiple years.
Taxpayers face new federal spending (authorized roughly $5 million per year FY2026–2030 plus evaluation tracking funds), creating a modest ongoing budgetary cost.
Small early care providers, local nonprofits, and smaller institutions may face significant administrative, training, monitoring, and grant-application burdens that strain time and budgets and may favor larger organizations.
Limited authorized funding and uneven monitoring/implementation across states could restrict how many communities are served and produce unequal benefits, leaving some children—especially in under-resourced areas—without the intended supports.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Creates a CDC competitive grant program funding training and interventions to improve healthy eating, physical activity, and food security for children birth–5 in early care and education, authorizing $5M/yr (FY2026–2030).
Creates a five-year competitive grant program at CDC (working with the Administration for Children and Families) to train early care and education providers, boost state capacity, test approaches, and address food insecurity to improve healthy eating and physical activity for children from birth through age 5. Grants are awarded to nonprofits, colleges/research centers, or consortia and must work with state and local implementing partners. The program requires a national independent evaluator to be hired before grants are awarded, includes funding to track state progress and measure food security, and authorizes $5,000,000 per year for FY2026–2030 (plus $1,700,000 in FY2026 for tracking). The Secretary must report to Congress within one year after the program ends.
Introduced September 9, 2025 by Cory Anthony Booker · Last progress September 9, 2025