To increase the quality and supply of child care and lower child care costs for families.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes a comprehensive birth-through-five child care and early learning entitlement program, creating definitions for eligible children, providers, and activities, and authorizing mandatory appropriations, defines states the purposes of Title II (BASE Grants) as making child care services more accessible for families and supporting the stability and quality of eligible child care providers through grants that promote, and provides definitions for Title II (BASE Grants), establishing terms for child care certificates, providers, lead agencies, and the Secretary, incorporating existing definitions from the Child Care and Development Block. It relies on grants, compliance mandates, appropriations, and reporting requirements. The main policy areas are Social Welfare, Early Childhood Education, Child Care, and Education.
Who Benefits and How
Child care providers could gain revenue opportunities, Head Start agencies could gain revenue opportunities, and State governments could gain revenue opportunities.
Who Bears the Burden and How
State governments would take on compliance duties, Federal taxpayers could face higher costs, and State lead agencies would take on compliance duties.
Key Provisions
- Establishes a comprehensive birth-through-five child care and early learning entitlement program, creating definitions for eligible children, providers, and activities, and authorizing mandatory appropriations...
- Defines states the purposes of Title II (BASE Grants) as making child care services more accessible for families and supporting the stability and quality of eligible child care providers through grants that promote...
- Provides definitions for Title II (BASE Grants), establishing terms for child care certificates, providers, lead agencies, and the Secretary, incorporating existing definitions from the Child Care and Development Block...
- Provides reserves up to 3 percent of Title II appropriations for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to administer grants, which may include providing technical assistance and resources to support implementation...
- Establishes the BASE Grant program for States, appropriating $9 billion annually for fiscal years 2026-2031, distributed through formula grants based on State allocations under the Child Care and Development Block Grant...
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes a comprehensive birth-through-five child care and early learning entitlement program, creating definitions for eligible children, providers, and activities, and authorizing mandatory appropriations, defines states the purposes of Title II (BASE Grants) as making child care services more accessible for families and supporting the stability and quality of eligible child care providers through grants that promote, and provides definitions for Title II (BASE Grants), establishing terms for child care certificates, providers, lead agencies, and the Secretary, incorporating existing definitions from the Child Care and Development Block.
Key Policy Areas
Social Welfare, Early Childhood Education, Child Care, Education
Primary Purpose
The bill establishes a comprehensive birth-through-five child care and early learning entitlement program, creating definitions for eligible children, providers, and activities, and authorizing mandatory appropriations, defines states the purposes of Title II (BASE Grants) as making child care services more accessible for families and supporting the stability and quality of eligible child care providers through grants that promote, and provides definitions for Title II (BASE Grants), establishing terms for child care certificates, providers, lead agencies, and the Secretary, incorporating existing definitions from the Child Care and Development Block.
Policy Domains
Title I - Birth Through Five Child Care and Early Learning
Identified Gains
- Child care providers
- Head Start agencies
- State governments
- Head Start teachers and staff
- Working families with children under 6
Identified Costs
- State governments
- Federal taxpayers
- State lead agencies
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Preschool providers receiving federal funds
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMrs. Murray (for herself, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Hirono, and Mr. …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Child care providers, Child care providers serving underserved populations, Child care workers
Child care providers faces effects in multiple directions
Local governments in non-participating States, State governments, State lead agencies
State governments faces effects in multiple directions
Positive-direction: Local governments in non-participating States
Negative-direction: State lead agencies
Families with 3-4 year old children, Low-income families with young children, Working families using Head Start
Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations, U.S. territories
Department of Health and Human Services faces effects in multiple directions
Local educational agencies, Preschool teachers and staff
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "lead_agency"
- → State-designated agency to administer child care program
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
- "lead_agency"
- → State lead agency under Child Care and Development Block Grant Act
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
- "secretary_of_education"
- → Secretary of Education (collaborative role)
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Terms from Child Care and Development Block Grant Act apply; 'BASE Grant' means building and sustaining excellence grant.
A certificate (check or disbursement) issued by State/Tribal/territorial/local government directly to a parent for payment of child care services. Considered indirect Federal financial assistance.
An individual who is a homeless child or youth under section 725 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
Activities including employment, job search, education, health treatment, child abuse prevention, workforce training, and FMLA leave.
An individual under 6 years of age, not yet in kindergarten, residing with parents in eligible activities or identified as vulnerable.
Licensed center-based, family, or other child care provider participating in the State tiered quality system.
Federal medical assistance percentage as defined in section 1905(b) of the Social Security Act.
Care that reflects prevalence of children with disabilities and provides full participation alongside non-disabled children.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology