Military Spouse Employment and Child Care Readiness Act

[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