H.R. 2282 — Respect Parents’ Childcare Choices Act

This section amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (CCDBG)—which provides federal block grants to states to subsidize child care for low-income working families—as follows: (1) authorizes appropriations of $14 billion for each of FY2026 through 2031 (in addition to prior authorizations of $2.36 billion for FY2015, increasing annually to $2.749 billion for FY2020); (2) revises state plan requirements to mandate all direct services via child care certificates (i.e., vouchers for parental choice of providers), exempt in-home child care providers and relative caregivers from most health, safety, and licensing standards, protect assistance from termination due to temporary cessation of work/training/education or an unmarried parent's marriage (with at least six months continuation if income exceeds limits due to marriage), require website postings/annual notifications on using certificates for relative caregivers (e.g., grandparents, aunts/uncles) or married parents acting as caregivers, mandate quinquennial reviews of relative caregiver regulations to reduce burdens, increase the minimum percentage of block grant funds for direct services via certificates to 90% (from 70%), and set relative caregiver payment rates at not less than 75% of family child care provider rates for children of the same age in the same location; and (3) changes "Sectarian" to "Religious" in the heading of a limitations provision.

This section repeals the credit for expenses for household and dependent care services necessary for gainful employment (i.e., Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, under which eligible taxpayers could claim a nonrefundable credit equal to 20-35% of up to $3,000 [$6,000 for two or more qualifying individuals] in employment-related care expenses). It makes conforming amendments to various other tax provisions—including the adoption credit (§23), health coverage tax credit (§35), dependent care assistance programs (§129), medical expense deductions (§213), and math error procedures (§6213)—to relocate definitions of employment-related expenses, marital status rules, and special rules for spouses who are students or incapable of self-care. The changes apply to taxable years beginning after the date of enactment.