Supporting Child Care Providers and Families Affected by Coronavirus Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3562 To provide supplemental appropriations for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program, and the Head Start and Early Head Start pro- grams, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 22, 2020 Mr. CASEY (for himself and Ms. HASSAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Appropriations A BILL To provide supplemental appropriations for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program, and the Head Start and Early Head Start programs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supporting Child Care 4 Providers and Families Affected by Coronavirus Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3562.IS S3562 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3562 IS (1) CORONAVIRUS.—The term ‘‘coronavirus’’ 1 means coronavirus as defined in section 506 of the 2 Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supple- 3 mental Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116– 4 123). 5 (2) COVID–19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.— 6 The term ‘‘COVID–19 national emergency’’ means 7 the national emergency declared by the President 8 under the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 9 1601 et seq.) on March 13, 2020, with respect to 10 coronavirus. 11 (3) ELIGIBLE CHILD CARE PROVIDER.—The 12 term ‘‘eligible child care provider’’ has the meaning 13 given the term in section 658P of the Child Care 14 Development and Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 15 U.S.C. 9858n). 16 SEC. 3. SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION. 17 The following sums are hereby appropriated, out of 18 any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 19 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020, and for 20 other purposes, namely: 21 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3562.IS S3562 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3562 IS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN 1 SERVICES 2 ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES 3 PAYMENTS TO STATES FOR THE CHILD CARE AND 4 DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT 5 For an additional amount for ‘‘Payments to States 6 for the Child Care and Development Block Grant’’, 7 $4,000,000,000, to carry out the Child Care and Develop- 8 ment Block Grant Act of 1990 by enabling States to carry 9 out activities including— 10 (1) providing direct assistance to eligible child 11 care providers so that reimbursement can be ad- 12 justed to be based on the number of enrolled chil- 13 dren, rather than the number of children in attend- 14 ance, with such providers, due to the absence of chil- 15 dren or closure of providers, related to the COVID– 16 19 public health emergency; 17 (2) continuing payments to eligible child care 18 providers when there are closures related to the 19 emergency; 20 (3) providing payments to eligible child care 21 providers so that the providers can provide tuition or 22 copayment assistance for children whose families are 23 temporarily unable to continue making tuition pay- 24 ments or copayments due to the emergency; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3562.IS S3562 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3562 IS (4) providing payments to eligible child care 1 providers to cover the cost of substitute educators 2 who are needed due to the emergency; 3 (5) providing payments to eligible child care 4 providers to provide additional training to staff or to 5 purchase supplies and services needed to keep the 6 facilities of the eligible child care providers safe, san- 7 itary, and operational; and 8 (6) ensuring the children of frontline workers, 9 needed as a result of the emergency, have access to 10 care. 11 CHILDREN AND FAMILIES SERVICES PROGRAMS 12 For an additional amount for ‘‘Children and Families 13 Services Programs’’, $1,000,000,000 for carrying out the 14 Head Start Act by assisting Head Start programs (includ- 15 ing Early Head Start programs)— 16 (1) to provide educators with additional train- 17 ing or to purchase supplies and services needed to 18 keep the facilities of the programs safe, sanitary, 19 and operational; 20 (2) to provide mental health supports, needed 21 due to the COVID–19 public health emergency, to 22 children in the programs and their families; 23 (3) to provide services to the children and fami- 24 lies remotely or through alternative delivery meth- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3562.IS S3562 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3562 IS ods, including through the provision of needed tech- 1 nology for programs and families, due to the emer- 2 gency; 3 (4) to continue payments for salaries of staff 4 during closures, and to provide the staff with hazard 5 pay when applicable, due to the emergency; 6 (5) without displacing children eligible for a 7 Head Start program (including an Early Head Start 8 program), or disrupting services provided to the 9 families of such children, at the discretion of the 10 grantee involved, to provide care to children of front- 11 line workers needed as a result of the emergency re- 12 gardless of the eligibility of the children; and 13 (6) to provide other services needed as a result 14 of the emergency. 15 SEC. 4. EMERGENCY REQUIREMENT. 16 The amounts appropriated under section 3 are des- 17 ignated by Congress as being for an emergency require- 18 ment pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced 19 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 20 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(A)(i)). 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Apr 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3562.IS S3562 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS