Rebuilding a Better Child Care Infrastructure Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4688 To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to provide funding to sustain and increase the supply, quality, and affordability of child care, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. CASEY, and Mr. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to provide funding to sustain and increase the supply, quality, and affordability of child care, 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 ‘‘Rebuilding a Better 4 Child Care Infrastructure Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:58 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4688.IS S4688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4688 IS SEC. 2. INCREASED FUNDING FOR THE CHILD CARE ENTI- 1 TLEMENT TO STATES. 2 (a) FISCAL YEARS 2021 THROUGH 2025.—Section 3 418(a)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 618(a)(3)) 4 is amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘(3) APPROPRIATION.—For grants under this 6 subsection, there are appropriated $5,917,000,000 7 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025.’’. 8 (b) PAYMENTS TO BENEFIT CHILDREN IN THE TER- 9 RITORIES.— 10 (1) ELIGIBILITY.—Section 418(a) of such Act 11 (42 U.S.C. 618(a)) is amended— 12 (A) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 13 paragraph (8); and 14 (B) by inserting after paragraph (4), the 15 following: 16 ‘‘(5) TERRITORIES.— 17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Beginning with fiscal 18 year 2021, the Secretary shall reserve 2 percent 19 of the aggregate amount appropriated to carry 20 out this subsection in each fiscal year for pay- 21 ments to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 22 the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, Amer- 23 ican Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the 24 Northern Mariana Islands (in this paragraph 25 referred to as the ‘territories’). 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:58 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4688.IS S4688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4688 IS ‘‘(B) ALLOTMENTS.—The amount reserved 1 under subparagraph (A) for a fiscal year shall 2 be allotted among the territories in amounts 3 that bear the same proportion to the amount so 4 reserved as the amount of the payment made to 5 each such territory for the most recently pre- 6 ceding fiscal year to carry out the Child Care 7 and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 8 bears to the total amount paid to all such terri- 9 tories for such purpose for that fiscal year. 10 ‘‘(C) OTHER RULES.— 11 ‘‘(i) NO MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 12 No cash or in-kind matching requirement 13 shall apply to the amounts provided to the 14 territories under this paragraph for any 15 fiscal year. 16 ‘‘(ii) REDISTRIBUTION OF UNUSED 17 FUNDS.—Subparagraph (D) of paragraph 18 (2) shall apply to the amounts allotted to 19 the territories under this paragraph for a 20 fiscal year in the same manner as that 21 subparagraph applies to amounts allotted 22 to the 50 States and the District of Co- 23 lumbia for a fiscal year under paragraph 24 (2)(B), except that, the second sentence of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:58 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4688.IS S4688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4688 IS clause (i) of such subparagraph shall not 1 apply and the amounts allotted to the ter- 2 ritories that are available for redistribution 3 for a fiscal year shall be redistributed to 4 each territory that applies for such 5 amounts, to the extent the Secretary deter- 6 mines that the territory will be able to use 7 such additional amounts to provide child 8 care assistance, in an amount that bears 9 the same proportion to the amount so 10 available for redistribution as the amount 11 allotted to the territory for the fiscal year 12 bears to the total amount allotted to all the 13 territories receiving redistributed funds 14 under this paragraph for the fiscal year. 15 ‘‘(iii) USE OF FUNDS; APPLICATION 16 OF CHILD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT 17 BLOCK GRANT ACT OF 1990.—Except as 18 provided in clause (iv), subsections (b) and 19 (c) apply to amounts provided to a terri- 20 tory under this paragraph for a fiscal year 21 in the same manner as such subsections 22 apply to amounts provided to a State 23 under this subsection for the fiscal year. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:58 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4688.IS S4688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4688 IS ‘‘(iv) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (2) of 1 subsection (b) shall not apply to the 2 amounts provided to any territory under 3 this paragraph for any fiscal year.’’. 4 (2) DISREGARD FROM LIMITATION ON TOTAL 5 PAYMENTS TO TERRITORIES.—Section 1108(a)(2) of 6 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1308(a)(2)) is 7 amended by inserting ‘‘418(a)(5),’’ after ‘‘413(f)’’. 8 (c) PAYMENTS TO BENEFIT INDIAN CHILDREN.— 9 Paragraph (4) of section 418(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 10 618(a)(4)) is amended to read as follows: 11 ‘‘(4) INDIAN TRIBES.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 13 reserve not less than 3 percent of the aggregate 14 amount appropriated to carry out this sub- 15 section in each fiscal year for payments to In- 16 dian tribes and tribal organizations. 17 ‘‘(B) REDISTRIBUTION OF UNUSED 18 FUNDS.—The Secretary shall determine an ap- 19 propriate procedure for redistributing payments 20 made to Indian tribes and tribal organizations 21 under this paragraph for a fiscal year which the 22 Secretary determines will not be used during 23 the period in which such payments are available 24 to be obligated to each Indian tribe and tribal 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:58 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4688.IS S4688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4688 IS organization that applies for such amounts, to 1 the extent the Secretary determines that the In- 2 dian tribe or tribal organization will be able to 3 use such additional amounts to provide child 4 care assistance.’’. 5 (d) RESERVATION OF FUNDS FOR TECHNICAL AS- 6 SISTANCE AND EVALUATION.—Section 418(a) of such Act 7 (42 U.S.C. 618(a)), as amended by subsection (b)(1), is 8 amended by inserting after paragraph (5), the following: 9 ‘‘(6) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Beginning with 10 fiscal year 2021, the Secretary shall reserve up to 1⁄2 11 of 1 percent of the aggregate amount appropriated 12 to carry out this subsection in each fiscal year to 13 support technical assistance and dissemination ac- 14 tivities under paragraphs (3) and (4) of section 15 658I(a) of the Child Care and Development Block 16 Grant Act of 1990. 17 ‘‘(7) RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATION, AND EVAL- 18 UATION.—Beginning with fiscal year 2021, the Sec- 19 retary may reserve 1⁄2 of 1 percent of the of the ag- 20 gregate amount appropriated to carry out this sub- 21 section in each fiscal year to conduct research and 22 demonstration activities, as well as periodic external, 23 independent evaluations of the impact of the Child 24 Care and Development Block Grant program estab- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:58 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4688.IS S4688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4688 IS lished under subchapter C of chapter 8 of title VI 1 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 2 (Public Law 97–35), as carried out under this sub- 3 section and under such subchapter, on increasing ac- 4 cess to child care services and improving the safety 5 and quality of child care services, using scientifically 6 valid research methodologies, and to disseminate the 7 key findings of those evaluations widely and on a 8 timely basis.’’. 9 (e) REMOVAL OF RESTRICTION ON APPLICATION OF 10 UPDATED FMAP.—Section 418(a)(2)(C) of such Act (42 11 U.S.C. 618(a)(2)(C)) is amended by striking ‘‘, as such 12 section was in effect on September 30, 1995’’. 13 (f) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 14 Section 418(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 618(a)) is amend- 15 ed— 16 (1) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘reserva- 17 tion described in paragraph (4)’’ and inserting ‘‘res- 18 ervations described in paragraphs (4), (5), (6), and 19 (7)’’; and 20 (2) in paragraph (8), (as redesignated by sub- 21 section (b)(1)(A)), by inserting ‘‘(as in effect before 22 June 30, 2003)’’ after ‘‘section 403(a)(1)(D)’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:58 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4688.IS S4688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4688 IS SEC. 3. PANDEMIC CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE GRANTS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 418 of the Social Security 2 Act (42 U.S.C. 618) is amended by adding at the end the 3 following: 4 ‘‘(e) PANDEMIC CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE 5 GRANTS.— 6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro- 7 vided in this subsection, the preceding provisions of 8 this section shall not apply to this subsection. 9 ‘‘(2) APPROPRIATIONS.— 10 ‘‘(A) GRANTS.—For pandemic child care 11 assistance grants under this subsection, there 12 are appropriated $10,000,000,000 for fiscal 13 year 2021. 14 ‘‘(B) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES; TECH- 15 NICAL ASSISTANCE.—For administrative ex- 16 penses of the Secretary in administering this 17 subsection, and for providing technical assist- 18 ance to States and Indian tribes and tribal or- 19 ganizations with respect to the pandemic child 20 care assistance grants authorized under this 21 subsection, there are appropriated $50,000,000 22 for the period of fiscal years 2021 through 23 2022. 24 ‘‘(3) ENTITLEMENT TO GRANTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:58 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4688.IS S4688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4688 IS ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each State and each 1 Indian tribe and tribal organization that re- 2 ceived a payment under subsection (a)(4) for 3 fiscal year 2021, shall be entitled to be paid a 4 pandemic child care assistance grant under this 5 subsection for fiscal year 2021 from the amount 6 appropriated under paragraph (2) for fiscal 7 year 2021. 8 ‘‘(B) ALLOTMENTS.—From the amount 9 appropriated under paragraph (2) for fiscal 10 year 2021, the Secretary shall make the fol- 11 lowing allotments: 12 ‘‘(i) INDIAN TRIBES.—An amount 13 equal to 2 percent of the amount so appro- 14 priated shall be reserved to pay pandemic 15 child care assistance grants for fiscal year 16 2021 under this subsection to Indian tribes 17 and tribal organizations that received a 18 payment under subsection (a)(4) for fiscal 19 year 2021 in amounts that bear the same 20 proportion to the amount so reserved as 21 the amount of the payment made to each 22 such Indian tribe and tribal organization 23 under subsection (a)(4) for fiscal year 24 2021 bears to the total amount reserved 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:58 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4688.IS S4688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4688 IS for such payments under subsection (a)(4) 1 for fiscal year 2021. 2 ‘‘(ii) TERRITORIES.—An amount 3 equal to 2 percent of the amount so appro- 4 priated shall be reserved to pay pandemic 5 child care assistance grants for fiscal year 6 2021 under this subsection to each State 7 that is a territory specified in paragraph 8 (7)(G)(ii) in amounts that bear the same 9 proportion to the amount so reserved as 10 the amount of the payment made to the 11 territory under subsection (a)(5) for fiscal 12 year 2021 bears to the total amount re- 13 served for such payments under subsection 14 (a)(5) for fiscal year 2021. 15 ‘‘(iii) 50 STATES AND THE DISTRICT 16 OF COLUMBIA.—The amount appropriated 17 under paragraph (2) that remains after the 18 application of clauses (i) and (ii) shall be 19 used to pay pandemic child care assistance 20 grants for fiscal year 2021 under this sub- 21 section to each State that is one of the 50 22 States or the District of Columbia in 23 amounts that bears the same proportion to 24 the amount so remaining as the amount of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:58 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4688.IS S4688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4688 IS the allotment determined for the State or 1 District under subsection (a)(2)(B) for fis- 2 cal year 2021 bears to the total amount 3 available for such allotments under sub- 4 section (a)(2)(A) for fiscal year 2021. 5 ‘‘(4) OTHER FUNDING AND PAYMENT RULES.— 6 ‘‘(A) PAYMENT DEADLINE.—The Secretary 7 shall make quarterly payments to each State, 8 Indian tribe, and tribal organization from the 9 pandemic child care assistance grants deter- 10 mined for the State, Indian tribe, or tribal or- 11 ganization under paragraph (3)(B) for fiscal 12 year 2021. 13 ‘‘(B) NO MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—Nei- 14 ther subparagraph (C) of subsection (a)(2) nor 15 any other cash or in-kind matching requirement 16 shall apply to the pandemic child care assist- 17 ance grants paid under this subsection. 18 ‘‘(C) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—Funds 19 from a pandemic child care assistance grant 20 paid under this subsection must be used to sup- 21 plement, not supplant State and Tribal general 22 revenue funds for child care assistance for low- 23 income families. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:58 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4688.IS S4688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4688 IS ‘‘(D) PERIOD FOR AVAILABILITY.—The pe- 1 riod in which the funds from a pandemic child 2 care assistance grant paid under this subsection 3 to a State, Indian tribe, or tribal organization 4 are available for expenditure is the same period 5 that would apply if the funds were considered 6 amounts allotted to one of the 50 States or the 7 District of Columbia under subsection (a)(2)(B) 8 for fiscal year 2021, payments made to a terri- 9 tory under subsection (a)(5) for such fiscal 10 year, or payments made to Indian tribes and 11 tribal organizations under subsection (a)(4) for 12 such fiscal year. 13 ‘‘(E) REDISTRIBUTION OF UNUSED 14 FUNDS.—The determination as to whether 15 funds from a pandemic child care assistance 16 grant paid to the lead agency of a State, Indian 17 tribe, or tribal organizations under this sub- 18 section will not be used during the period in 19 which such funds are available for expenditure, 20 and the procedure for redistributing all such 21 funds, shall be made in the same manner as 22 such determination and redistribution would be 23 made if the funds were considered amounts al- 24 lotted to one of the 50 States or the District of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:58 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 0192 [Text truncated for display. 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