Sponsor
Cory Anthony Booker
Senator · D-NJ
Senator · D-NJ
The bill promotes improved nutrition, physical activity, and connections to food supports for young children and families while building government capacity and accountability — but it requires new federal/state spending and adds administrative and implementation burdens that may limit reach and produce uneven benefits across communities.
Children birth–5 in participating early care settings will get improved nutrition and physical activity practices, supporting healthier development and obesity prevention.
Low-income and food-insecure families will gain improved access to nutrition supports because the bill helps link early care and education (ECE) programs to food assistance and provides states support to make those connections.
State and local early childhood systems will build capacity through sustained training and technical assistance, raising the quality of early care programs over multiple years.
Federal and state governments (and thus taxpayers) will incur new costs — including an authorized $5 million per year (FY2026–2030) plus $1.7 million in FY2026 for evaluation — which may require higher appropriations or divert funds from other programs.
Small early care providers and local nonprofits may face substantial administrative, training, monitoring, and grant-application burdens, straining time and budgets and disadvantaging organizations with limited capacity.
Authorized funding is limited, so the program may serve only some communities and leave many children (especially in underfunded areas) without access to the intended benefits.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Creates a CDC 5-year Healthy Kids Grant Program to train early care providers, boost healthy eating/physical activity, and address food insecurity for children birth–5, authorizing $5M/year FY2026–30 plus $1.7M FY2026.
Official title: Amend the Public Health Service Act to promote healthy eating and physical activity among children.
Introduced September 9, 2025 by Cory Anthony Booker · Last progress September 9, 2025
Creates a 5-year competitive grant program (the Healthy Kids Grant Program) at CDC, in coordination with the Administration for Children and Families, to help early care and education programs serving children birth through age 5 improve healthy eating, physical activity, and food security. Grants go to nonprofits, research institutions, and consortia to train early childhood providers, build state capacity, test innovations, and include rural and urban partners. The law authorizes $5 million per year for FY2026–2030 and an additional $1.7 million for FY2026 to support tracking and evaluation, requires a national independent evaluator, and mandates a post-program report to Congress.