The number of working women with children has increased dramatically in the past 20 years, increasing the demand for child care services to help working families secure and maintain their economic self-sufficiency. As more welfare families will be expected to seek and keep jobs, demand for child care services will increase. Because Congress is considering several proposals, including a variety of subsidies and tax breaks, to provide more federal funding to working parents to secure child care and to change certain programs, this correspondence to Senator Larry E. Craig responds to his questions regarding how much the federal government is now spending on child care and for whom. Data are provided on the amount of federal funding for key child care programs for fiscal year 1997, the number of children served under these programs, and the programs' eligible populations. Information is charted for five primary programs, and 16 other programs including: federal funds available for child care under each program; total program funds; ratio of child care funds to total program funds; and the administering agency. Data for military programs are also charted. An enclosure to the correspondence describes the five primary federal child care programs: Head Start; Child Care and Development Fund; Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit; Child and Adult Care Food Program; and Title XX Social Services Block Grant Child Care. (JPB)