What's Left on the Congressional Agenda for Early Childhood

As Congress adjourned at the end of September, it left a number of issues related to early childhood to be dealt with in a lame duck session. Since they did not finish work on their regular Appropriations bill, they enacted a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government open. Most programs, including the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and Head Start, were funded at FY 2010 levels. Since the FY 2010 level does not include the increase in child care and Head Start that were part of ARRA, this means that the increases included in the House Appropriations bill ($700 million for the CCDBG and $770 million for Head Start) and the Senate Appropriations bill ($1 billion for child care and $989 million for Head Start, as well as $300 million for a new Early Learning Challenge Fund) have not yet been approved. The CR also extended the regular Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, including the mandatory child care funding that is tied to the program, but not the TANF Emergency Fund.

The CR runs through December 3. Advocates will be working to win the larger increases for child care and Head Start included in the Senate bill as well as the funds for the Early Learning Challenge Fund in a final appropriations bill.

A bill reauthorizing child nutrition programs was also left on the table. The Senate had passed a bill that included several provisions to improve the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which funds meals and snacks for children in child care and Head Start settings. It included new requirements for healthy food options, encouragement for child care programs to reduce screen time for children and increase their physical activity, increased technical assistance to providers on these issues, and a reduction in the paperwork burden for programs and sponsors. However, the Senate bill did not include several provisions to improve access to CACFP that advocates had sought, such as increased reimbursements to cover the costs of healthier meals, funding for an additional snack or meal for children spending at least eight hours in a child care setting, changes that would increase the participation of family child care providers, and increased reimbursement to sponsors that support family child care providers. In addition, approximately half of the funding for the Senate bill was obtained by cutting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits (SNAP, formerly food stamps); for a family of four, the cut would mean a loss of $59 per month in SNAP benefits in 2013.

The House had marked up a child nutrition bill that included some of the access provisions that advocates had sought for CACFP, including increased support for sponsors and a pilot program for five states to offer an additional meal and snack. It also made improvements that increased access to other child nutrition programs. However, the bill did not reach the House floor.

There was an attempt to have the House pass the Senate bill before Congress adjourned. Many advocates and House members were concerned that the cut in SNAP benefits would only make it more difficult to reach the goal that the child nutrition reauthorization was intended to achieve—better nutrition for children and their families. They urged the House not to cut families' food stamp benefits and to find another funding source to pay for the child nutrition improvements. The bill could be considered in the lame duck session.

Efforts to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) included discussions of new initiatives to bolster support for early childhood learning as well as early elementary education. However, neither the House nor the Senate produced an ESEA bill, so action will be left to the next Congress.