U.S. President Donald Trump and Well being and Human Companies (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attend a Make America Wholesome Once more (MAHA) Fee occasion, within the East Room of the White Home in Washington, D.C., U.S., Could 22, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
The Trump administration on Tuesday mentioned it was freezing $10 billion in federal grant funds for sure youngster care and household help applications in 5 states due to “severe considerations about widespread fraud” in state-administered applications.
All 5 states focused by the freeze — California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York — are led by Democrats.
The motion applies to 3 applications overseen by the U.S. Well being and Human Companies Division‘s Administration for Kids and Households: Baby Care and Growth Fund, Non permanent Help for Needy Households, and Social Companies Block Grant.
The transfer comes a day after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz dropped his bid for a 3rd time period amid political fallout from widespread fraud in social service applications within the state, together with child-care companies, which a federal prosecutor has estimated value greater than $9 billion.
“Households who depend on youngster care and household help applications deserve confidence that these assets are used lawfully and for his or her supposed objective,” mentioned Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill in a press release.
“This motion displays our dedication to program integrity, fiscal accountability, and compliance with federal necessities,” O’Neill mentioned.
Greater than $7.3 billion in TANF funds have been frozen, and almost $2.4 billion in CCDF funds have been frozen. Almost $840 million in Social Companies Block Grant funding was frozen.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker blasted President Donald Trump for the freeze.
“Somewhat than making it extra reasonably priced for households, Trump is stripping away youngster care from these simply making an attempt to go to work,” Pritzker wrote in a publish on X.
“Hundreds rely upon these applications, and now their livelihoods are in danger,” Pritzker wrote. “It is unsuitable and merciless — we’ll take each step attainable to defend Illinoisians.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, in a tweet, wrote, “Trump is threatening to freeze $10 billion in youngster care funding in blue states to make life more durable and costlier for teenagers and households. It is vindictive. It is merciless. And we’ll combat it with each fiber of our being.”
HHS on Monday introduced that it was rescinding a sequence of child-care guidelines carried out below the Biden administration “that required states to pay suppliers earlier than verifying any attendance and earlier than care was delivered.”
“The change will roll again provisions within the 2024 Baby Care and Growth Fund rule that weakened oversight and elevated the chance of waste, fraud and abuse in federally-funded state youngster care — together with applications now below investigation in Minnesota,” HHS mentioned in a press release on Monday.
The division final week froze all federal youngster care funding for Minnesota, which totals about $185 million yearly.
