I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4462 
To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to provide for parental leave 
payments to parents after the birth or adoption of a child in lieu 
of child care assistance, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 16, 2021 
Mr. LAHOOD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to provide 
for parental leave payments to parents after the birth 
or adoption of a child in lieu of child care assistance, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Equitable 
Access to Paid Family Leave Act of 2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. PARENTAL LEAVE PAYMENTS IN LIEU OF CHILD 
CARE ASSISTANCE. 
Section 418 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
618) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub-
section (e); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(d) GRANT CONDITION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As a condition of receiving 
a grant under this section, a State shall provide the 
parent of an eligible child the option to receive, in 
accordance with this section, a payment, which may 
be made on a monthly, biweekly, or weekly basis, for 
each month in the parental leave period with respect 
to such eligible child, in lieu of receiving any child 
care services described in the Child Care and Devel-
opment Block Grant Act of 1990 during the period. 
‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—The amount of a payment 
made pursuant to paragraph (1) with respect to an 
eligible child shall be not less than the average sub-
sidy payment in the applicable market area within 
the State for the provision of child care services for 
infants, across all categories of care. 
‘‘(3) APPLICATION.—To receive a payment pur-
suant to paragraph (1) with respect to an eligible 
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child, the parent of the eligible child shall submit an 
application to the lead agency, or agency designated 
by the lead agency, of the applicable State before the 
beginning of the parental leave period with respect 
to the eligible child. The application shall include— 
‘‘(A) assurances by the applicant— 
‘‘(i) that the eligible child will not be 
receiving any child care services described 
in such Act during the period paid for by 
funds made available under this part; and 
‘‘(ii) that the applicant will not be re-
ceiving paid parental leave from any other 
source during the period; 
‘‘(B) documentation demonstrating that 
the applicant was working or attending a job 
training or educational program, as defined by 
the State, for at least 4 consecutive quarters 
ending on the date of application; and 
‘‘(C) any other such assurances or docu-
mentation the State may require. 
‘‘(4) TRANSITION TO CHILD CARE SERVICES.— 
A parent of an eligible child receiving a payment 
pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be provided the op-
tion to enroll in child care services provided under 
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such Act immediately after the end of the parental 
leave period with respect to the eligible child. 
‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE CHILD.—The term ‘eligible 
child’ has the meaning given the term in section 
658P(4) of such Act without regard to subpara-
graph (C). 
‘‘(B) LEAD
AGENCY.—The term ‘lead 
agency’ has the meaning given the term with 
respect to a State in section 658D of such Act. 
‘‘(C) PARENTAL
LEAVE
PERIOD.—The 
term ‘parental leave period’ means the 3-month 
period beginning on the date of birth or adop-
tion, as applicable, of an eligible child. 
‘‘(6) CLARIFICATION.—For purposes of sub-
section (b)(2), a payment pursuant to paragraph (1) 
of this subsection, shall be considered child care as-
sistance.’’. 
Æ 
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