"Child care cliff" is days away as fed funding expires. Millions could lose child care, experts say.
CBSN
The U.S. is heading for a "child care cliff" with the expiration of pandemic emergency relief funds that had helped thousands of child care centers pay their staff, upgrade facilities and help keep costs lower for parents.
After the funding expires on September 30, as many as 70,000 child care centers could be at risk of closing with as many as 3.2 million children losing their spots, according to one forecast.
The soon-to-expire funding stems from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021. Almost $40 billion was directed toward the child care industry, aiding a sector that typically receives little support from the federal government.
President Biden on Monday signed into law a defense bill that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members, aims to counter China's growing power and boosts overall military spending to $895 billion despite his objections to language stripping coverage of transgender medical treatments for children in military families.
It's Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus is suiting up for his annual voyage from the North Pole to households around the world. In keeping with decades of tradition, the North American Aerospace Command, or NORAD, will once again track Santa's journey to deliver gifts to children before Christmas 2024, using an official map that's updated consistently to show where he is right now.
An anti-money laundering law called the Corporate Transparency Act, or CTA, appears to have been given new life after an appeals court on Monday determined its rules can be enforced as the case proceeds. The law requires small business owners to register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, by Jan. 1, or potentially pay fines of up to $10,000.