The Building Child Care for a Better Future Act provides substantial new federal funding to expand and improve child care across the country, starting with $20 billion in fiscal year 2026 through the Child Care and Development Block Grant program, with automatic annual increases tied to inflation. The bill establishes an additional $5 billion annual grant program focused on improving child care quality, workforce development, and access in areas with the greatest need, particularly serving low-income families, infants, toddlers, children with disabilities, and rural communities. States, territories, tribal organizations, and Indian tribes will receive these funds and must submit detailed plans describing how they will identify underserved areas, support child care providers, develop and improve worker wages, finance facilities, and build family child care networks. Recipients must track their spending and outcomes through reports at one year and three years after receiving funds, while the federal government will conduct regular evaluations to measure improvements in child care supply, quality, and parental choice. The funding and requirements take effect October 1, 2025, with 5% of funds reserved for Indian tribes and 4% for territories.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.