H.R.1245: Improving Access to Child Care Act

Congressman Darin LaHood introduced three bills, H.R. 1245: the Improving Access to Child Care Act, H.R. 1246: the Improving Access to Work Act, and H.R. 1247: the Supporting Work Through Apprenticeships Act, which aim to strengthen programs under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

This legislation will require states to spend 25 percent of their Maintenance-of-Effort (MOE) funds and 25 percent of their federal block grant on work or work support activities. In 2017, states used only 10.5 percent of their TANF funds for work activities and another 1.5 percent on work supports activities.

Additionally, this legislation prohibits states from utilizing TANF federal funds to fill state budget holes.

This legislation adds apprenticeships as a work activity. Current work activities include on-the-job training, job readiness assistance, vocational educational training, and community service.

This legislation will eliminate the $608,000,000 contingency fund and provide the funds for child care. Contingency fund dollars would then be distributed to all 50 states for child care purposes.

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