H.R. 728 119th Congress House

Expanding Head Start Eligibility Act of 2025

Official title: To amend the Head Start Act to include TANF, SSI, SNAP, WIC, and federal housing assistance as eligible public assistance.

Introduced: January 24, 2025 Introduced by: John Garamendi Democratic · California See on congress.gov

Social Welfare Child healthChild safety and welfareFamily servicesFood assistance and relief

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Low- and moderate-income housingNutrition and dietPoverty and welfare assistancePreschool education

Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Jan 24, 2025

Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Jan 24, 2025

Introduced in House

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What's happening now January 24, 2025

Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Expanding Head Start Eligibility Act of 2025

This bill expands eligibility for Head Start programs to include the children of families eligible for specified public assistance programs.

Specifically, the bill expands Head Start eligibility to include the children of families that qualify for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), and federal housing assistance (commonly known as Section 8). The bill also provides statutory authority for the eligibility of families that qualify for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Families that qualify for state-funded food assistance programs with eligibility standards identical or substantially similar to the standards for SNAP must also be eligible for Head Start.

Bill text 1 version

Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 1

Education and Workforce Committee
House of Representatives

Lobbying activity 1

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
for NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION · District of Columbia · 1st Quarter 2025 (Jan 1 - Mar 31)

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

Cosponsors 28

Bell, Wesley

Missouri · Jul 14, 2026

Davids, Sharice

Kansas · Mar 25, 2025

Castro, Joaquin

Texas · Mar 18, 2025

Cisneros, Gilbert Ray

California · Mar 3, 2025

Evans, Dwight

Pennsylvania · Mar 3, 2025

Landsman, Greg

Ohio · Mar 3, 2025

Stansbury, Melanie A.

New Mexico · Mar 3, 2025

Sánchez, Linda T.

California · Feb 5, 2025

Smith, Adam

Washington · Feb 5, 2025

DelBene, Suzan K.

Washington · Jan 31, 2025

Friedman, Laura

California · Jan 31, 2025

Moulton, Seth

Massachusetts · Jan 31, 2025

Trahan, Lori

Massachusetts · Jan 31, 2025

Ansari, Yassamin

Arizona · Jan 24, 2025

Cherfilus-McCormick, Sheila

Florida · Jan 24, 2025

Correa, J. Luis

California · Jan 24, 2025

Garcia, Robert

California · Jan 24, 2025

García, Jesús G. "Chuy"

Illinois · Jan 24, 2025

Gonzalez, Vicente

Texas · Jan 24, 2025

Hayes, Jahana

Connecticut · Jan 24, 2025

Jackson, Jonathan L.

Illinois · Jan 24, 2025

Johnson, Henry C. "Hank"

Georgia · Jan 24, 2025

McClellan, Jennifer L.

Virginia · Jan 24, 2025

Moore, Gwen

Wisconsin · Jan 24, 2025

Quigley, Mike

Illinois · Jan 24, 2025

Thanedar, Shri

Michigan · Jan 24, 2025

Titus, Dina

Nevada · Jan 24, 2025

Turner, Sylvester

Texas · Jan 24, 2025

Cite this page click to expand

APA

U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 728: Expanding Head Start Eligibility Act of 2025. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-728/

MLA

"H.R. 728: Expanding Head Start Eligibility Act of 2025." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-728/.

Bluebook (legal)

H.R. 728, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-728/.

Markdown link

[H.R. 728: Expanding Head Start Eligibility Act of 2025](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-728/)