"Child care cliff" is days away as fed funding expires. Millions could lose child care, experts say.

The U.S. is heading for a "child care cliff" with the expiration of pandemic emergency relief funds that had helped thousands of child care centers pay their staff, upgrade facilities and help keep costs lower for parents. 

After the funding expires on September 30, as many as 70,000 child care centers could be at risk of closing with as many as 3.2 million children losing their spots, according to one forecast. 

The soon-to-expire funding stems from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021. Almost $40 billion was directed toward the child care industry, aiding a sector that typically receives little support from the federal government.