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Child care subsidy work requirements during the Trump administrations
This page features information on child care subsidy work requirements during the Trump administrations.
President Donald Trump's (R) first presidential term began on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. His second term began on January 20, 2025.
Background of child care subsidy work requirements
This section provides information about the history, administration, and work requirements for child care subsidies.
History of child care subsidies
The Social Security Act of 1935 established the Aid to Dependent Children Program (ADC), which created subsidies to help families in which fathers were "deceased, absent, or unable to work," according to the text. ADC was changed to Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in 1962.[1][2]
AFDC was replaced with two child care grants in the 1990s: the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). CCDF provides funds to assist low-income families in obtaining child care so they can work or attend education and training programs. TANF provides cash payments to help families pay for food, clothing, housing, and other essentials. States can transfer up to 30 percent of TANF funds to supplement CCDF child care initiatives. Families who receive cash assistance from TANF may receive child care funded by CCDF or TANF.[3][4][5]
Administration of child care subsidies
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Child Care oversees the distribution of federal CCDF grants and TANF funding to the states. CCDF programs are then administered by states, territories, and tribal governments.[6][7]
Work requirements for child care subsidies
Under TANF, the federal government determines work participation rates for states. The state work participation rates require at least half of families with one work-eligible individual and 90% of families with two work-eligible individuals to meet work requirements. Families with one work-eligible individual must complete 30 hours of work activity per week; families with two work-eligible individuals must complete 35 hours of work activity per week; and families with two work-eligible individuals who receive TANF child care subsidies must complete 55 hours of work activity per week. States are charged with administering programs that meet federal work requirements and have the flexibility to determine certain exemptions, activities that satisfy work requirements, and sanctions for individuals in non-compliance.[8][9] Ballotpedia doesn't currently cover state-level variations in TANF policy.
Federal law requires that parents receiving CCDF child care subsidies work or complete work-related activities. States are responsible for defining the activities that qualify a family for assistance through CCDF, including work requirements, education participation, and community service. Employment is an approved activity for CCDF funding in every state and some states also approve subsidies for parents participating in education and training activities. Working, periods of job search, self-employment, attending job training or education-related activities, foster care, and subsidized guardianship are activities that meet eligibility standards for CCDF subsidies in different states. State agencies have flexibility in determining eligibility for CCDF subsidies, according to HHS regulations.[10][11][12]
Child care subsidy work requirements during the Trump administrations
This section provides information on activities affecting child care subsidy work requirements during the Trump administrations.
Trump administration, first term (2017-2021)
Executive Order 13828 calls for the review and enforcement of work requirements
Executive Order 13828: Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility, signed by President Donald Trump (R) on April 10, 2018, called for a review of all public assistance programs, with and without work requirements, to "determine whether enforcement of a work requirement would be consistent with Federal law and the principles outlined in this order." E.O. 13828 called for a review of federally funded workforce development programs and mandated that programs be consolidated if more than one executive department or entity administers similar programs. State agencies were directed to enforce existing work requirements for public assistance programs, such as child care.[13]
See also
- Arguments about work requirements for public assistance programs
- Court cases related to work requirements for public assistance programs
- Scholarly work related to work requirements for public assistance programs
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Social Welfare Library, Aid to Dependent Children, accessed May 30, 2023
- ↑ Social Welfare, Mothers Aid, accessed May 30, 2023
- ↑ Urban Institute, Child care subsidies, accessed May 31, 2023
- ↑ CLASP, Implications for CCDBG Reauthorization, accessed June 2, 2023
- ↑ HHS, TANF cash help, accessed June 2, 2023
- ↑ ‘’HHS,’’ ‘’Child Care and Development Fund,’’ accessed May 31, 2023
- ↑ First Five Years Fund, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, accessed June 1, 2023
- ↑ Urban Institute, "Welfare Rules Databook: State TANF Policies as of July 2020," accessed December 23, 2023
- ↑ Urban Institute, "TANF Work requirements and State Strategies to fulfill Them," March 2012
- ↑ Urban Institute, Child care subsidies, accessed May 31, 2023
- ↑ HHS Child care, parental activities and reason for care, accessed May 31, 2023
- ↑ Child care aware, child care and development block grant, accessed May 31, 2023
- ↑ Gov Info, Executive Order 13828, accessed June 1, 2023