Senate coalition introduces legislation aimed at boosting accessible and affordable childcare options
A bipartisan group of senators is set to unveil a new bill on Wednesday, the Child Care and Development Block Grant Update. The bill aims to address the significant challenge of access to affordable, reliable child care for working families in the United States, a challenge highlighted by Sarah Rittling, the executive director of the First Five Years Fund, an advocacy organization for affordable and high-quality early learning and child care.
The bill is designed to strengthen child care services and help increase the supply of providers. It encourages states to consult with parents, providers, and employers to develop child care plans in areas with child care deserts and a high percentage of children with disabilities. The bill also provides funding for states to help address significant provider shortages nationwide.
One of the key provisions of the bill is its aim to expand a key grant program for child care that hasn't been touched in more than a decade. This provision infuses funding into multiple federal credit programs for working parents in the United States. The bill would give states the opportunity to help families above the current income eligibility (85% of the state's average income) through a waiver process.
The bill also offers technical assistance for developing shared services, like provider networks, for in-home child care providers, who make up nearly 40% of formal care for babies and children up to 4 years old in rural areas of the United States. The bill is intended to help families balance child care with career advancement, reducing stress and its potential consequences.
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., have backed the child care provision, despite voting against the overall package. Rittling views the new effort by Britt and her colleagues to expand the block grant and make additional reforms to the industry as proof that the issue of access to affordable child care in the United States has momentum.
However, the search results do not provide specific information about which senators or organizations support the new U.S. law expanding a long-untouched childcare funding program. More than 40% of families in the United States cannot access affordable child care, according to a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute.
Rittling believes the support for the bill indicates a conversation about where to go from here and what the federal government is doing to address the issue of affordable child care in the United States. The bill's sponsors emphasize that the $16 billion child care provision previously passed by Republicans and signed into law by President Donald Trump as part of the 'big, beautiful bill' is part of this ongoing conversation. The Child Care and Development Block Grant Update is a significant step towards addressing the urgent need for affordable, reliable child care in the United States.
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