On Tuesday, February 3, Congress passed—and President Trump signed into law—five full-year FY26 spending bills, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-H) bill. This package includes increased funding for child care and early education and brought a brief government shutdown to an end. The shutdown occurred after Congress missed the January 30 deadline set by the Continuing Resolution (CR), which had temporarily funded the government following this fall’s prolonged shutdown.
A sixth spending bill, funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), extends agency operations through February 13. This two-week extension gives lawmakers additional time to continue negotiations over immigration enforcement reform—a critical step that CCAoA urged Congress to take. As these discussions on DHS funding move forward, it is essential that Congress prioritize the safety and well-being of children, including the 1 in 4 children who live in families where at least one parent was born outside the United States.
CCAoA is grateful to Congress, especially bipartisan House and Senate leadership, for prioritizing stable funding for early learning and child care in this appropriations process. The final FY26 Labor-H package includes the following funding levels for key programs through September 30, 2026:
- $8.831 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), an increase of $85 million from FY25
- $12.357 billion for Head Start, an increase of $85 million from FY25
- $315 million for Preschool Development Grants Birth through Five (PDG B-5), level-funded from FY25
- $540 million for IDEA Part C, level-funded from FY25
- $420 million for IDEA Part B Sect 619, level-funded from FY25
- $75 million for the Child Care Access Means Parents in School program (CCAMPIS), level-funded from FY25
We are also appreciative for the months of sustained outreach from advocates, and for the most recent rally of advocacy, which included more than 500 CCAoA advocates who sent over 1,000 emails to their lawmakers in the final week of action alone. Your voices were loud and clear—and Congress listened.
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