WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration has reversed 2024 Biden administration rules that made child care more affordable and provided financial stability to child care providers and early educators.

The announced changes will impact the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) that provides federal tax dollars to all 50 states, Washington, D.C., tribal governments, and Puerto Rico. 

Stripping protections for providers and flexibility for families from the CCDF program will:

• Make child care less affordable for families by removing the cap on what families pay (previously no family in the program paid more than 7% of their income) 
• Punish child care providers financially by not paying them if a child is not in attendance for any reason, including illness (previously providers have been paid based on student enrollment and not attendance, which is absolutely essential to creating financial stability for child care settings)
• Fail to address the child care crisis by not increasing funding for child care 

“This is a continuation of the administration’s larger attack on child care,” says Andrea Paluso, Director of the Child Care for Every Family Network. “They told us clearly in Project 2025 what they planned to do and they are working through a series of planned attacks to erode our child care system across the country. Since day one, Trump’s agenda has been to dismantle the federal programs that families count on. This assault on child care is a targeted attempt to strip economic power from women, people of color, and working families.”

The administration is claiming that removing rules will “restore flexibility” in the CCDF program, but this is not true. These major revisions will cause mass chaos for families, child care providers, and kids across the country, worsening the child care crisis significantly. 

During the comment period on the proposed rule changes, 1,244 comments were submitted by state human services and educational agencies; members of the U.S. Congress; and hundreds of national, state, and local early childhood and family-focused organizations, including the Child Care for Every Family Network. 

The administration ignored the direct feedback from those most impacted by this rule and once again chose to undermine families, children, and child care providers.

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The Child Care for Every Family Network is the national movement and campaign to transform child care, representing 2,000+ child care providers, impacted families, state and national organizations, and organizers across the country. Learn more: childcareforeveryfamily.org.