The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is the primary source of federal funding for child care subsidies for low-income families and to improve child care quality for all children. Quality child care enables parents to work or go to school while providing children with safe and enriching environments where they can learn and thrive. The 2014 bipartisan reauthorization of CCDBG aims to increase the health, safety, and quality of child care and make child care assistance a more stable support for families. A new purpose in the law--and a goal shared by many federal and state policymakers--is increasing the number of low-income children accessing quality child care. Implementing new provisions of the law, raising the quality of child care, and helping low-income families access stable child care will require significant new investments in CCDBG. This report briefly presents the following: (1) Spending on child care assistance Is at a 12-year low; (2) The number of children receiving CCDBG assistance is at a 16-year low; and (3) A $1.2 billion investment is needed to implement the law without further reducing access.