Date: 2026-08-03. Post-mortem skeleton; primary-source passes pending.
Post-mortems (status)
- 1971 CCDA: passed both chambers; Nixon veto framed federal childcare as against the "family-centered approach" (recollected language — veto message primary text still to be pulled; flagged per two-source rule). The framing persists in today's opposition (§13's parental-choice argument).
- BBB (2021): childcare/pre-K title passed the House, died with the bill in the Senate — the failure was the vehicle (whole-package collapse), not a childcare-specific vote. Consistent with H13.1: the title itself was never voted down.
- NHSA endorsed BBB's structure (NHSA) — evidence against treating the Head Start constituency as a reflexive veto; its position depends on the design's treatment of Head Start.
Durability evidence (new this pass)
- DC PEF: proven program, annually contested funding, funded below requirement (ws04) — durability requires dedicated revenue, not evaluation results
- Red-state universal pre-K (GA/OK/FL): 20–30 years durable across partisan turnover — universality at the 4-year-old tier with modest per-child spend is politically stable everywhere it's been tried. The feasibility steelman (§0.3) starts here: the contested territory is 0–3, compensation, and quality standards — not universality per se
- ARPA cliff: temporary funding built capacity that visibly collapsed on schedule — the cliff pattern is now measured (ws09), strengthening the §16 case against temporary-funding ramps and the H11.2 concern about reconciliation sunsets
Feeds: §14 durability row; §16 legislative sequencing; steelmanned feasibility case per §0.3.