Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Child Care and Development Block Grant, or CCDBG, Act of 2014, which reauthorized the CCDBG program. Legislation to reauthorize CCDBG has been overdue for nearly two decades. The Senate is expected to pass the bill later this week, sending it to President Barack Obama’s desk. Carmel Martin, Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
The House’s action today to reauthorize the Child Care and Development Block Grant clear the way for better health and safety standards in child care. This law will improve safety for millions of children in child care programs across the country and ensure that taxpayer dollars do not fund unsafe programs.
Importantly, the bill promotes stable access to child care by allowing children to be enrolled for a 12-month period. This will support working parents and avoid frequent child care changes that are harmful to children’s development.
While these changes represent progress, this is just the first step toward helping families access affordable, high-quality child care. We must now turn to increasing funding to support families’ access to child care and targeting federal funds to high-quality providers that go beyond minimum health and safety standards to support early learning and school readiness.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, please contact Allison Preiss at [email protected] or 202.478.6331.
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