Federal investments in early childhood care and education come in many forms. These investments stretch across multiple federal agencies and congressional committee jurisdictions. They vary from targeted to flexible funding streams, from grant programs to tax provisions. Some programs primarily or exclusively provide early childhood services (e.g., Head Start), while others are broad-based, flexible funding streams for which early childhood services are among many allowable uses (e.g., Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). These federal programs often have differing policy goals, target populations, program services, and administrative rules. For instance, some programs target a particular service (e.g., child care, home visiting), while others target a particular population (e.g., special needs children, working parents). In many cases, federal programs target low-income families, but certain programs and child care-related tax provisions benefit middle- and upper-income families as well. In recent years, both Congress and the Obama Administration have demonstrated interest in early childhood issues. The President has proposed the creation of new early childhood programs (e.g., Preschool for All), as well as reforms to existing programs. In some cases, these or other early childhood proposals have been taken up by Congress. For instance, the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA; P.L. 114-95 ), which was signed into law in December 2015, authorized a new Preschool Development Grants program to be administered by HHS, jointly with ED. This legislation builds on a predecessor program of the same name that has been funded (at ED, but administered jointly with HHS) in annual appropriations acts since FY2014 under broad authorities and without a standalone authorization. Of note, several early childhood care and education programs are due for possible reauthorization in the 114 th Congress, including Head Start, mandatory child care funding authorized in Section 418 of the Social Security Act, and the IDEA Part C early intervention program for infants and toddlers. In addition, Congress may also take an interest in the Administration's implementation of recent reauthorizations, including the December 2015 ( P.L. 114-95 ) reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the November 2014 ( P.L. 113-186 ) reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). These laws mark the first comprehensive reauthorizations of the ESEA and the CCDBG since 2002 and 1996, respectively. This report begins with information on current and historical funding levels for a selection of early childhood care and education programs and tax provisions. Table 1 presents information on the FY2017 Obama Administration's budget request for such programs, while Table 2 provides a seven-year funding history (FY2010-FY2016) for these early childhood care and education programs and tax provisions. The funding section is followed by a series of program summaries (see Table 3 for a comparison of basic characteristics for selected programs). The program summaries have been organized into three categories: (1) targeted programs that exclusively or primarily provide early childhood services, (2) tax provisions that support the child care expenses of working families, and (3) certain broad-based and flexible programs that may be used to support early childhood care and education. Appendix A of this report provides some additional information on early childhood programs that do not currently receive federal funding. Appendix B presents a list of abbreviations and acronyms used throughout the report. Readers should note that program summaries in this report are not meant to be comprehensive. In many cases, other Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports are referenced as sources for more detailed information about individual programs. The Obama Administration released its FY2017 budget request on February 9, 2016. In keeping with recent practice, the President again generally requested increases from prior-year levels for early childhood care and education programs (see Table 1 ). At the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for instance, the request called for a $434 million (+5%) increase for Head Start and a $3.9 billion (+68%) increase in combined mandatory and discretionary funding for the CCDBG. The FY2017 request also called for a $100 million (+40%) increase for the Preschool Development Grants (PDG) program, noting that this program would be based at HHS starting in FY2017, consistent with the new PDG authorization included in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA; P.L. 114-95 ). In addition, the Obama Administration once again requested $1.3 billion in mandatory funds to establish a new federal-state partnership to provide high-quality preschool for all four-year-olds from low- and moderate-income families. This "Preschool for All" program would incentivize state expansion of (1) publicly funded high-quality preschool for four-year-olds from families with income at or below 200% of the federal poverty line, (2) full-day kindergarten programs, and (3) other publicly funded high-quality early childhood programs for children under the age of four. Similar preschool proposals were included in the Obama Administration's budget requests for FY2014-FY2016. For context, Table 2 provides historical funding levels for selected early childhood care and education programs (and related tax provisions) from FY2010 through FY2016, the most recent year for which funding has been appropriated. There have been some changes in programs receiving funding during this timeframe, with some programs receiving funding for the first time (e.g., Preschool Development Grants) and others seeing their funding terminated altogether (e.g., Even Start). This section presents brief descriptions of a selection of early childhood and related programs and tax provisions currently receiving federal funding. ( Appendix A presents similar summaries of early childhood programs that were funded in the recent past, but do not currently receive federal funding.) The programs are divided into three sections: The " Targeted Programs " section describes programs that exclusively or primarily provide early childhood care and education services. The " Tax Provisions " section describes two provisions in the tax code that largely support child care expenses of working families. The " Related Programs " section describes several programs that are more broad-based and flexible in nature, but that may be used to support early care and education. To allow for easier comparison across programs, Table 3 presents some basic program data for the targeted programs and tax provisions described in this section. This table highlights how even these targeted programs experience wide variations in funding, federal eligibility rules, and participation. Head Start has provided comprehensive early childhood education and development services to low-income children since 1965. The program seeks to promote school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social, and other services. In general, children are eligible for Head Start if their family's income does not exceed the official poverty level or the family is receiving public assistance. Most children served in Head Start programs are three- and four-year-olds, but in 1994 Head Start was expanded to include an Early Head Start program, which serves children from birth to three years of age. In addition, since FY2014 annual Head Start appropriations have reserved a portion of funds for Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships. Through these partnerships, Early Head Start providers partner with center-based and family child care providers who agree to meet Head Start program performance standards. At the federal level, Head Start is administered by HHS, which awards Head Start funds directly to local grantees rather than through states. Programs are locally designed and are administered by a network of roughly 1,600 public and private nonprofit and for-profit agencies. Head Start agencies are required to comply with detailed federal performance standards. Head Start was last reauthorized by the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 ( P.L. 110-134 ). This law authorized the program through the end of FY2012 (September 30, 2012), meaning that Head Start is currently due for possible reauthorization. For more information on Head Start, see CRS Report RL30952, Head Start: Background and Funding , by [author name scrubbed]. The CCDBG is the primary source of federal grant funding dedicated to child care subsidies for low-income working families. The CCDBG has two funding streams: Discretionary funding is authorized by the CCDBG Act of 1990, which was reauthorized through 2020 by the CCDBG Act of 2014 ( P.L. 113-186 ). There are no state maintenance-of-effort (MOE) or matching requirements associated with these discretionary CCDBG funds. Mandatory funding is authorized by Section 418 of the Social Security Act, which is due for possible reauthorization. Mandatory (or "entitlement") child care funds are generally appropriated directly by authorizing statute, meaning that these funds are not typically part of the annual appropriations process. States must meet MOE and matching requirements to receive their full allotments. At the federal level, these child care funding streams are jointly administered by HHS—and are commonly referred to as the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). The funds are allocated to states, according to separate formulas, and are used to subsidize the child care expenses of low-income working families with children under age 13 (and sometimes older children in special circumstances). Federal law stipulates that eligible families are those with a family income below 85% of the state median income, but in practice most states set income eligibility levels below the federal threshold. Child care services are provided to families on a sliding fee scale basis and parents may choose to receive assistance through vouchers or certificates, which can be used with a provider of the parents' choice, including religious providers and relatives. In addition to supporting direct services for children, states must use a portion of their CCDBG funds (both mandatory and discretionary) to improve the quality and availability of child care (e.g., by supporting training and professional development).