INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Gov. Mike Braun on Tuesday said Indiana child care facilities have excess capacity that they can use if they get more voucher funding.

The Republican governor’s comments came following a visit to Shepherd Childcare at the Minnie Hartmann Center on the east side of Indianapolis.

The center’s staff told him they are operating at about half their capacity of 140 children.

Braun said he has heard similar comments from other child care centers that have lost enrollment due to cuts to the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) voucher program. He said this means there is enough excess capacity in the system that Indiana likely can take care of at least some of its child care shortage by simply restoring funding.

The governor’s visit followed last week’s fiscal year 2026 closeout report, which showed the state has about $4 billion in reserves.

“We’re going to have enough (money), I think, to do it correctly, to build funding into where there’s excess capacity because it looks like, if we can get the funding, we can have more in a great facility like this,” he said.

The governor has stepped up his public pressure on lawmakers to fund child care over the past few months. His administration froze CCDF voucher enrollments and cut reimbursement rates in September as part of budget cuts due to projected revenue losses caused by President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

Those losses have not happened.

Earlier this year, state budget writers transferred $200 million from a contingency fund to shore up the CCDF program and allow some new vouchers to be issued. The Family and Social Services Administration told News 8 that about 35,000 children are still on the waitlist.

State Rep. Carey Hamilton, D-Indianapolis, said House Democrats will prioritize child care funding in 2027. She said options include providing small grants to child care providers throughout the state and incentivizing child care providers to provide benefits to their employees.

Hamilton said that Braun has “talked a lot about child care, and I think that’s encouraging. I was extremely discouraged when decisions early on in the administration led to the creation of this waitlist for 37,000 kiddos. So we’ve got a lot of work to do just to get back to the baseline that he inherited when he first stepped into the governor’s office.”

Hamilton said last week’s financial closeout report proves the state can easily afford more child care spending. She said Democrats also will renew their push for universal pre-K, long a top priority that has gained little traction in the Republican-dominated General Assembly.

Braun said he’s open to ideas like small grants as well as finding ways to get businesses more involved in child care. He did not offer a specific dollar amount he would like lawmakers to pursue when they begin budget negotiations.

The 2027 legislative session is not scheduled to begin until January. Both the governor and lawmakers typically wait until then to release specific policy proposals.