S. 4896: Child Care Innovation Advancement Act of 2026

This bill would create a temporary federal pilot program to help certain child care programs pay for nutritious food for the children they serve.

What the pilot program would do

Within 180 days after the bill becomes law, the U.S. Department of Agriculture would have to start a program called the child care innovation nutrition pilot program. Under this program, organized child care programs that are located in places other than a private home could get reimbursed for buying food used to make meals for children in their care.

The bill specifically mentions child care programs operating in places such as:

• commercial spaces,
• community centers,
• houses of worship, and
• spaces provided by employers.

Who could participate

To qualify, a child care program would have to:

• operate under a sponsoring organization, and
• be licensed or approved by the state where it is located.

How long the help would last

Each participating child care program could receive reimbursements for no more than 3 years. The pilot program itself would end 5 years after it is established.

How reimbursement would work

The bill says eligible programs would be reimbursed at the same rate used for family child care homes or group day care homes under similar federal child nutrition programs. Sponsoring organizations would also be reimbursed in the same way they are under those existing programs.

Oversight and safeguards

The bill includes several monitoring and anti-fraud requirements:

• The program would have to follow accountability rules similar to those used in other federal child care nutrition programs.
• The Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General would have to audit participating programs starting in the first fiscal year after enactment and each year after that.
• Programs with unresolved audit findings would be blocked from receiving funds for the next 2 fiscal years after the issue remains unresolved for a year.
• The Secretary of Agriculture would have to report annually to Congress on audits, exclusions, and any programs that were removed from the pilot.

Preventing duplicate payments

Before approving reimbursement, the Secretary would have to check whether the same child care program is already getting federal reimbursement for a similar purpose under another program. If a program gets more than one reimbursement for similar costs, the Secretary would have to report that to Congress and explain why it happened.

Report back to Congress

After the pilot ends, the Department of Agriculture would have to study the program and report the results to Congress within 1 year. That report would need to cover:

• whether more low-income children received nutritious meals,
• whether more children received child care,
• what procedures were needed to protect program integrity,
• which outreach methods worked best, and
• whether Congress should make permanent authority for some child care programs to receive food reimbursement.

Funding

The bill authorizes whatever money is needed to run the pilot program, but it does not set a specific dollar amount.

Relevant Companies

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