Trump Administration Drafts Plan to Pay Married Stay-at-Home Parents Using Working-Parent Childcare Funds

The Trump administration is drafting a rule, championed by Vice President JD Vance and incorporating legislative language Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote as a senator, that would let married couples with one stay-at-home parent draw on the $12 billion Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), a program created in the 1990s to help low- and moderate-income working parents afford childcare, according to a draft document reported Sunday, September 6, 2026. Under the proposal, a married couple in which one spouse works at least 35 hours a week and the other stays home could receive roughly $9,000 per child annually; unmarried couples and single non-working parents would not qualify. About 870,000 families currently receive CCDF subsidies, 80% of them single working parents (mostly mothers); some department lawyers have questioned the legality of a marriage requirement, and critics warn the change would redirect funds from working parents without new appropriations. The rule needs no congressional approval, requires White House sign-off and a public comment period, and could take effect as soon as 2027.