WASHINGTON Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday announced new steps to lower the cost of child care for American families with a proposal that would cap copayments under a block grant program that serves 1.5 million children and their families each month.

She said the Department of Health and Human Services will launch a proposed rulemaking that would limit working parent's copayments under the Child Care & Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program to no more than 7% of a family’s income.

It will also encourage states to waive copayments for families at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, the White House said in a fact sheet on the changes.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal)