Rise Up for Child Care Act of 2026: Open-Ended Federal Funding and Guaranteed 24-Month Support for Families

The Rise Up for Child Care Act of 2026 fundamentally rewrites the rules for how the federal government supports working families. By amending Section 418 of the Social Security Act, the bill shifts child care from a capped budget item to an open-ended entitlement. This means the previous $3.55 billion limit is gone, replaced by a commitment to provide "whatever sums are necessary" each year to meet the needs of the program. For families currently receiving state assistance, or those who have transitioned off assistance within the last 24 months, the bill creates a federal guarantee that child care services must be provided, ensuring that a new job or a slight increase in income doesn't lead to a sudden loss of care.

Breaking the Funding Ceiling

For years, state child care programs have operated under a "lesser of" allotment rule, which effectively put a ceiling on how much federal help a state could receive regardless of actual demand. This bill strikes those limitations entirely. By removing these caps, states can theoretically scale their programs to match the real-world costs of local care. For a parent who has finally landed a stable job after being on assistance, the 24-month guarantee acts as a bridge; it prevents the "benefits cliff" where earning a few extra dollars an hour might otherwise disqualify them from the very child care that allows them to work in the first place.

Support for the Home-Based Workforce

A significant portion of this legislation targets the people actually doing the work, specifically in home-based settings. The bill establishes a 75 percent federal matching rate for state spending used to boost the wages and benefits of home-based child care providers. This is a targeted effort to stabilize a sector of the workforce that often operates with thin margins and low pay. If a state decides to invest $1,000 in a wage supplement for a local home-based provider, the federal government would cover $750 of that cost, making it much more affordable for states to improve the quality of life for these essential workers.

Tracking the Impact

To ensure this new spending actually works, the bill allocates $20 million annually for the Department of Health and Human Services to study the effects of these wage supplements. Interestingly, the bill is very specific about who should conduct this research, requiring the Secretary to prioritize hiring career civil servants with deep backgrounds in federal grants and means-tested programs. While this ensures the data is handled by experts, the specific hiring criteria are unusually detailed for a legislative text. This research will be compiled into reports for every session of Congress, aiming to provide a clear picture of whether higher wages for providers lead to better outcomes for the families and children they serve.