Expanding Access to Military Child Care Act of 2025

The Expanding Access to Military Child Care Act of 2025, introduced in the Senate by Senators Shaheen and Ernst, would create a time-limited pilot program to widen access to high-quality early child care for members of the Armed Forces and their families. The Department of Defense would direct the military departments to form 12 partnerships with eligible child care providers (or networks) in diverse locations near military installations. The goal is to increase capacity, improve workforce development for child care employees (including military spouses), and aid recruitment and retention of staff. The program emphasizes geographic variety across service branches and installations, including Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, Space Force, and joint installations. The pilot would include strict participation requirements for providers, centralized administration, regular evaluations, and periodic reporting to Congress and GAO. A key feature is protecting nonmilitary families’ access: participating providers must not reduce slots for nonmilitary children or undertake new construction that reduces civilian access. The act also contemplates interagency partnerships and resource subsidies to support providers, plus a plan to address unmet child care need in areas with large military populations. The pilot runs from 2026 to 2030, with a potential extension to 2032 if Congress is notified and benefits are described. A separate report (due in 2027) would assess unmet need and the surrounding civilian child care environment.