Military Spouse Employment and Child Care Readiness Act

Veronica Escobar

Democrat · TX · Representative

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

No cosponsors on record. Bills can pass without cosponsors — this often means the sponsor introduced the bill alone, either because it's a messaging bill, a chairman's mark, or simply early in the legislative cycle.

Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.

2026-07-22

Source: Congress.gov

The proposal would help military spouses find and keep jobs by improving access to affordable child care and making it easier for them to work across different states without losing professional licenses. Military families often move frequently due to deployments and reassignments, which disrupts spouses' careers and makes finding reliable child care difficult, so this bill aims to reduce those barriers. The changes would affect military families, employers who hire military spouses, and child care providers serving military communities.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 9848 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 9848 To direct the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress on the workforce, readiness, and policy challenges associated with military child care and military child development centers, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 22, 2026 Ms. Escobar introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To direct the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress on the workforce, readiness, and policy challenges associated with military child care and military child development centers, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Military Spouse Employment and Child Care Readiness Act''. SEC. 2. REPORT ON STRENGTHENING THE MILITARY CHILD CARE WORKFORCE. (a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report assessing workforce, readiness, and policy challenges associated with military child care and military child development centers. (b) Contents.--The report under subsection (a) shall include the following: (1) An analysis of the current workforce of military child development centers, including-- (A) the percentage of employees who are military spouses; and (B) the percentage of employees who are spouses of retired or separated members of the Armed Forces. (2) A feasibility assessment of increasing the transferability of licenses or certifications for military spouses employed at military child development centers when accompanying a service member on a permanent change of station. (3) An assessment of vacancy rates across military child development centers and the reasons for such vacancies. (4) An assessment of the number of additional children who could be served by military child development centers if such centers were fully staffed. (5) A feasibility assessment of permitting military spouses residing in on-post housing to provide childcare within their homes under a supervisory program coordinated by a military child development center. (6) Recommendations for incentives to attract and retain military spouses in the military child care workforce, including-- (A) professional development opportunities; (B) stipend or subsidy programs; and (C) flexible scheduling options. (c) Congressional Defense Committees Defined.--In this section, the term ``congressional defense committees'' has the meaning given that term in section 101(a)(16) of title 10, United States Code. <all>

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