Sponsors (9)
Official title: Award grants for the creation, recruitment, training and education, retention, and advancement of the direct care workforce and to award grants to support family caregivers.
Introduced June 24, 2026 by Timothy Michael Kaine · Last progress June 24, 2026
The bill channels significant federal funds to expand training, pay, and data-driven supports for direct care workers—improving care and career pathways—while increasing federal spending and administrative, privacy, and implementation burdens that may strain smaller providers and limit flexibility for some communities.
Direct care workers (and trainees) will gain expanded, standardized training, apprenticeships, wage protections, and direct financial supports from grants, improving pay, retention, and long-term career prospects.
Students and jobseekers in underserved, rural, and tribal areas will have better access to training through explicit eligibility for community and Tribal colleges, geographic-targeting, and technical assistance to expand local programs.
Older adults and people with disabilities may receive higher-quality care as funding supports recruitment/retention and culturally/disability-competent training that prioritizes stakeholder input.
Taxpayers bear increased federal costs from new grants, a technical assistance center, and program operations (including wage and support requirements), creating a sizable budget outlay.
Smaller providers, nonprofits, and state/local grantees will face substantial administrative, planning, and reporting burdens (complex applications, stakeholder consultations, and detailed data submissions) that can disadvantage them and divert staff time from services.
Grant funding is time-limited and subject to allocation rules (e.g., minimum shares for career-pathway projects and supplement-not-supplant rules), which can create instability for workers and programs and limit flexibility for resource-poor communities.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Creates a technical assistance center and a $1B competitive grant program to recruit, train, retain, and advance direct care workers and support family caregivers, with data reporting and evaluation.
Creates a national technical assistance center and a large competitive grant program to recruit, train, retain, and advance paid direct care professionals and to support paid and unpaid family caregivers for older adults and people with disabilities. The bill sets grant categories, application and project planning requirements, data reporting and evaluation rules, stakeholder participation requirements, and authorized funding to run the center and fund grants. Grants must finance career-pathway projects, allow continuation of existing activities, limit administrative costs, and require grantees to reserve a portion of funds for direct financial supports or services to workers. The Department of Health and Human Services must oversee the Center, award grants in consultation with Labor, CMS, and Education, collect annual data, commission independent and GAO evaluations, and produce annual reports to Congress.