[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1778 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1778

  To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to 
   include the provision of diapers and diapering supplies among the 
 activities for which funds may be employed to improve the quality of 
                       and access to child care.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 1, 2011

Mr. Blumenthal introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to 
   include the provision of diapers and diapering supplies among the 
 activities for which funds may be employed to improve the quality of 
                       and access to child care.

    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 ``Diaper Investment and Aid to Promote 
Economic Recovery Act'' or the ``DIAPER Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) access to a reliable supply of clean diapers is a 
        medical necessity for the health and welfare of infants and 
        toddlers, their families, and child and health care providers;
            (2) a supply of diapers is generally an eligibility 
        requirement for infants and toddlers to participate in early 
        childhood education programs;
            (3) providing a sufficient supply of diapers can cause 
        economic hardship to needy families;
            (4) absent access to child care, parents and guardians of 
        infants and toddlers cannot participate in the workforce, and 
        that lack of access causes economic harm to many families;
            (5) providing diapering systems to needy infants and 
        toddlers through child care programs furthers the national 
        goals of improved health and sanitation for families and for 
        staff in early childhood education and child care programs; and
            (6) making available clean diapers to needy infants and 
        toddlers who would otherwise be prevented from participating in 
        child care programs furthers the national goal of safe and 
        quality child care, and therefore enables better implementation 
        of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990.

SEC. 3. PROVISION OF DIAPERS AS CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE.

    The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 
9801 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in section 658E(c)(3)(C) (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(3)(C)) by 
        adding at the end the following: ``Provision of diapers and 
        diapering supplies for use by eligible children within the 
        State who receive or are offered child care services for which 
        financial assistance is provided under this subchapter shall be 
        considered a direct service and shall not be included in 
        administrative costs.'';
            (2) in section 658G (42 U.S.C. 9858e) is amended by adding 
        at the end the following: ``Those improvement activities 
        include the provision of diapers and diapering supplies to 
        child care providers that receive funding under this 
        subchapter, sufficient for the population of untrained 
        children, each of whom is under the age of 3 and has a parent 
        who receives or is offered financial assistance under this 
        subchapter for the child involved.''; and
            (3) in section 658P by inserting after paragraph (2) the 
        following:
            ``(3) Diaper-related terms.--
                    ``(A) Diaper.--The term `diaper'--
                            ``(i) means an absorbent garment worn by 
                        infants and toddlers who are not toilet-trained 
                        or individuals who are incapable of controlling 
                        their bladder or bowel movements; and
                            ``(ii) refers to--
                                    ``(I) a disposable diaper (as 
                                defined in clause (i)); and
                                    ``(II) a washable cloth diaper (as 
                                so defined) and the requisite diaper 
                                laundering and delivery services 
                                necessary to provide a sufficient 
                                number of such diapers for the 
                                corresponding number of untrained 
                                children in the eligible population.
                    ``(B) Diapering supplies.--The term `diapering 
                supplies' means items, including diaper wipes, and 
                diaper cream, necessary for safe diapering.
                    ``(C) Untrained child.--The term `untrained child' 
                means an infant, toddler, or individual described in 
                subparagraph (A)(i).''.
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