Adds fraud controls and mandatory penalties to the federal child care grant program

§1What it does

Why this matters: A plain-English description of the bill as it was voted on, written by us from the official summary and text.

✎ Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

This bill would tighten fraud and payment rules in the Child Care and Development Block Grant program, which funds states to help low-income working families pay for child care.^2,3,4 It would require federal officials to impose added penalties, which can include cutting off program funds, on states found to have substantially failed to follow program rules, and would end their authority to waive such penalties.^3,4 States with improper payment rates above 5% would need a corrective plan and could lose program funds after two straight years above that level, and child care providers found to have committed fraud would be permanently barred from this program and from the Child and Adult Care Food Program.⁴ The version the House passed, a broader substitute for the committee's single-change bill, would also require states to describe their anti-fraud controls and report improper payments each year, and would order a Government Accountability Office study of fraud prevention.^3,4

§2Status

§3How Congress voted

Why this matters: The official count.