PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Aug 3, 2006
Choices in Child Care Act - Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to five to seven states for demonstration projects to provide at-home infant care benefits to low-income families. Allows grants to Indian tribes. Requires the Secretary to seek to ensure geographic diversity among participants and to give priority to states that demonstrate a commitment to improving the quality of infant care and the choices available to parents of infants, that have relevant experience, and that have a shortage of infant care.
Requires states, to participate in the demonstration project, to certify to the Secretary that the state: (1) will not reduce expenditures for child care services while carrying out the project; (2) will not give priority or preference to low-income families seeking to receive at-home infant care benefits over other families on a waiting list for child care assistance through other state programs, but will select a combination of such families; and (3) will ensure that applicants are permitted to choose between receipt of at-home care subsidies and certificates for child care needed for employment.
Sets forth eligibility requirements for families seeking assistance, including having a parent who had a recent work history prior to the application for benefits. Requires states to permit two-parent families to participate in the project, but prohibits states from limiting participation in the project to such families.
People & committees
Sen. Clinton, Hillary Rodham [D-NY] · D–NY
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8812)
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Dec 5, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.3797 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.3797 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.3797 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.3797 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.