H.R. 9958 · 119th Congress

Head Start Expansion and Improvement Act of 2026

Introduced on Jul 27, 2026 by Jahana Hayes (D-CT-5). 22 cosponsors, all from the sponsor's party. Latest action (Jul 27, 2026): Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Jul 27, 2026
Cosponsors
22
0 from the other party
Policy area
Education
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To amend the Head Start Act to expand and improve participation in Head Start programs, and for other purposes.

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Jul 27, 2026). Public domain.

Head Start Expansion and Improvement Act of 2026

This bill reauthorizes through FY2032 and otherwise revises Head Start programs.

Specifically, the bill expands eligibility for Head Start programs to include families with incomes below 138% of the federal poverty level. The bill also adds a definition for public assistance under the Head Start Act to include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); Supplemental Security Income (SSI); the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

The bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a program to make grants to Head Start agencies (including Early Head Start agencies) to construct or improve facilities. HHS must also establish and carry out a program to make grants to Head Start agencies for increasing the compensation paid to employees.

The bill also provides student loan forgiveness for certain Head Start and Early Head Start child care workers. In particular, the Department of Education must cancel the outstanding balance of principal, interest, and fees due on Federal Direct Loans for a borrower who (1) has been employed full-time by a Head Start or Early Head Start program for three years, and (2) has provided care or instruction to children enrolled in such a program.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Jahana HayesD-CT-5Sponsor

Democrats · 22

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Jul 27, 2026Introduced in House
  2. Jul 27, 2026Introduced in House
  3. Jul 27, 2026 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.