Child Care Nutrition Enhancement Act of 2025
Key claim: HR2859 would eliminate the two-tiered CACFP reimbursement system for day care homes, add a 10-cent per meal/snack supplement, and allow providers to receive reimbursement for meals served to their own children without an income eligibility requirement.
Abstract
(HR2859 · 119th Congress) Child Care Nutrition Enhancement Act of 2025 This bill increases and modifies reimbursements for meals and snacks served under the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). CACFP is a Food and Nutrition Service program that provides federal reimbursements for meals and snacks provided to eligible children and adults who are enrolled at participating child care centers, day care homes (i.e., private homes that provide nonresidential child care services), and adult day care centers. Specifically, the bill eliminates the two-tiered system for CACFP reimbursement rates for day care homes and generally makes all day care homes eligible for the same reimbursement rates. Under current law, day care homes located in a low-income area or with a low-income provider receive higher reimbursement rates (i.e., Tier I rates). Day care homes that do not qualify for Tier I rates receive Tier II rates, which are lower. Further, the bill provides an additional 10-cent reimbursement for each eligible meal and snack served in the CACFP. The bill also allows the provider of a family or group day care home to serve reimbursable meals and snacks to their own children when serving meals and snacks to children in their care. Specifically, the bill eliminates the current requirement that the child of a day care home provider meet the program’s income eligibility requirement in order for the day care provider to receive reimbursement for the meals and snacks served to their child. Latest action (2025-04-10): Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Why this matters
CACFP is the primary federal subsidy for meals served in family day care homes, and the two-tiered reimbursement structure has long been criticized for creating paperwork burdens and uneven payments across otherwise similar providers. Eliminating tiers, adding a per-meal supplement, and letting providers claim their own children without income tests would raise per-provider revenue and could ease participation, with corresponding effects on federal costs and on the meal quality/quantity available to children in home-based care.