	Federal Child Care and Early Education Programs and Tax Provisions

Several federal programs support child care, education, or related services, primarily for low-income working families. Early childhood care and education programs still due to be reauthorized in the 110 th Congress include the Child Care and Development Block Grant and programs under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA). The NCLBA programs include Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I, Part A, Early Reading First, Even Start, and the Early Childhood Educator Professional Development program. Programs for young children contained in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), such as the Preschool Grants program and the Infants and Toddlers program, are not up for reauthorization in the 110 th Congress. The CCDBG is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and provides formula block grants to states, which use the grants to subsidize the child care expenses of families with children under age 13, if the parents are working or in school, and family income is less than 85% of the state median. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

TANF, created in the 1996 welfare reform law ( P.L. The original legislation provided $16.5 billion annually through FY2002, and after a series of twelve temporary extensions, Congress included several welfare provisions (and mandatory child care funding) in its spending budget reconciliation bill ( S. 1932 ), which was signed into law ( P.L. 109-171 ) on February 8, 2006. Child care is one of many services for which states may use TANF funding. However, as part of the FY2006 appropriations, in addition to the regular SSBG funding, an additional $550 million was provided in the Defense Appropriations Act ( P.L. After unsuccessful attempts in the 109 th Congress to reauthorize the Head Start program (whose authorization had expired with FY2003), legislation reauthorizing the program through FY2012 was passed by the current Congress in November 2007, and that bill, H.R. 1429 / H.Rept. 110-134 ) by the President on December 12, 2007. Despite the long period of overdue reauthorization, funding continued to be provided through the appropriations process. After three continuing resolutions (CR) had extended temporary funding for Head Start at its FY2006 annual rate, a fourth CR ( H.J.Res. 110-5 ) on February 15, 2007, ultimately provided funding for the entirety of FY2007. As in the FY2007 budget request, the Administration requested no funding for the program for FY2008. FY2008 Appropriations

Fiscal Year 2008 began without appropriations bills for the year having been completed. 110-424 ). All FY2008 appropriation amounts referenced in this report reflect the across-the-board cut. H.R. 2764 became the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 and was agreed to and signed into law by the President on December 26, 2007. 3043 (which was subsequently vetoed by the President), and ultimately, the funding levels approved by the President and signed into law ( P.L. 110-161 ). All final funding levels reflect the across-the-board reduction of 1.747%. As shown in Table 3 , the President's funding request for most of the early childhood care and education programs discussed in this report mirror the funding levels provided for FY2008. For FY2009, the Administration again proposes to eliminate the Even Start program, as well as funding for Early Childhood Educator Professional Development.
Federal support for child care and education comes in many forms, ranging from grant programs to tax provisions. Some programs serve as specifically dedicated funding sources for child care services (e.g., the Child Care and Development Block Grant, or CCDBG) or education programs (e.g., Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title I, Part A; Early Reading First; Even Start; the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program; the Early Childhood Educator Professional Development program; and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act—Preschool Grants program and Infants and Toddlers program), while for others (e.g., Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF), child care is just one of many purposes for which funds may be used. In many cases, federal programs target low-income families in need of child care, but in the case of certain tax provisions, the benefits reach middle- and upper-income families as well. This report provides an overview of federal child care, early education, and related programs, and their funding status.
Funding for many child care, early education, and related programs is provided each year as part of the annual appropriations process for the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education (ED). Fiscal year (FY) 2007 appropriations bills for those departments did not receive floor action in the House or Senate during the 109th Congress, despite the 2007 fiscal year beginning on October 1, 2006. After three continuing resolutions (CRs) provided temporary funding for government operations, a fourth CR, providing funding through the end of FY2007, was ultimately signed into law (P.L. 110-5) on February 15, 2007, shortly after the President's budget request for FY2008 was released. For several but not all of the programs covered by this report, the FY2007 funding levels mirrored those included in the FY2006 appropriations (P.L. 109-149). Funding for Head Start was increased, as was that for Early Reading First. Even Start funding was cut, but not eliminated as had been proposed by the President.
The FY2008 appropriations process, which included a series of continuing resolutions that provided temporary funding (at FY2007 levels) and a vetoed conference agreement (H.Rept. 110-424), ultimately culminated in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 (H.R. 2764) being signed into law (P.L. 110-161) by the President on December 26, 2007. The legislation includes an across-the-board cut (1.747%) to the program funding level amounts contained in the act's language. (The levels included in this report reflect the across-the-board reduction.) On February 4, 2008, the President released his budget request for FY2009.
The 110th Congress has not addressed all of the expired (or soon expiring) reauthorizations in the area of early childhood education and care. The CCDBG (expired with FY2002) remains funded without authorization. No Child Left Behind was granted an automatic one-year extension (through FY2008) under the General Education Provisions Act. Head Start reauthorization legislation (H.R. 1429) was approved by this Congress in November 2007, and signed into law (P.L. 110-134) by the President on December 12, 2007.