STATEMENT: First Five Years Fund In Support of the Newly Introduced Child Care and Development Block Grant Reauthorization Act of 2024

Washington – Today, Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) introduced legislation to reauthorize the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act (CCDBG), the primary federal child care program that helps working families afford child care. 

Sen. Fischer’s legislation would update the program to better support child care providers, increase the supply of care in communities, and foster parental choice, ensuring more working families would be able to find and afford the quality child care options that best fit their needs. 

CCDBG helps working families across all 50 states access affordable, high-quality child care through a variety of care settings. It helps families find the quality child care they need to work or attend school; it also connects our nation’s youngest learners to quality care that sets them up for success in school. 

Last authorized in 2014, the program currently only serves an estimated 840,000 children each year, a fraction of those who need it. The Child Care and Development Block Grant Reauthorization Act of 2024 would modernize the program by:  

• Improving access for working families by allowing states to adjust eligibility to serve more children;
• Strengthening child care programs in states by better supporting in-home and rural child care providers; 
• Improving reimbursement rates for all providers to more accurately reflect the cost of care, and;
• Increasing the supply of child care by improving facilities, growing capacity and expanding the workforce.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling released the following statement upon introduction of the bill: 

“Updating our nation’s primary child care program, which supports hundreds of thousands of children each year, will help the program evolve to meet the needs of families today and for years to come.  

“Congress has demonstrated strong, bipartisan support for CCDBG for years, but we still have significant work to do to ensure the program can reach all of the families who need it. Senator Fischer’s Child Care and Development Block Grant Reauthorization Act of 2024 provides a critical opportunity to make much-needed improvements to CCDBG, allowing it to help more families access and afford the child care they rely on.

“We applaud Senator Fischer for her leadership in modernizing this foundational program and look forward to working with child care champions in Congress to ensure more working families and their children have access to the quality child care they need to be successful.” 

Voter Support

According to recent bipartisan polling conducted on behalf of FFYFl, voters are more likely to support candidates who support solutions like CCDBG.

• A strong majority of both national and swing state voters say they’d be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports increased federal funding to states (CCDBG) to expand child care. This includes:
  • 85% of all voters, including 73% of Trump voters and 95% of Biden voters. 
  • And over four-fifths of voters (85%) in states that will be critical to the makeup of the United States Senate – Arizona, Maryland, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada.
• An overwhelming majority of voters (85%) support increasing federal funding to the states which allows them to expand their child care programs (known as CCDBG).
  • This includes 74% of Republicans, 86% of Independents, and 96% of Democrats.

Click here to see fact sheets from all 50 states detailing how the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) helps families and kids in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. 

About First Five Years Fund

The first five years last forever. At First Five Years Fund, we work to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for early learning and child care programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide. Join us at www.ffyf.org.