Jan. 6 (UPI) — The Trump administration is putting a hold on $10 billion in funding for child care and social services for five Democrat-led states.
The Office of Management and Budget confirmed Monday that the administration plans to freeze funding for California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York, citing concerns about fraud.
The funding that is being frozen is directed toward low-income families and children. It includes $7 billion in funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, used to subsidize child care for low-income families.
The states are also being cut off from about $2.4 billion in Child Care Development Fund support. This program assists working parents with their childcare costs.
About 1.4 million children in the United States benefit from federal child care funds.
The funding freeze follows a move by the Trump administration last week to investigate allegations of fraud in Minnesota’s child care centers, along with a hold on $185 million in annual funding that was directed to the state.
“Democrat-led states and governors have been complicit in allowing massive amounts of fraud to occur under their watch,” Andrew Nixon, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.
Trump has targeted officials in each of these states over various grievances, including Democratic governors’ opposition to him sending troops into their states to undertake mass deportations.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has also caught Trump’s ire after refusing calls to release Tina Peters, a former election official who was convicted for attempting to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump pardoned Peters last month but presidential pardons do not override state convictions.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., alleged that the Trump administration’s decision to freeze funding is “political retribution” from the president.
“I demand that President Trump unfreeze this funding and stop this brazen attack on our children,” Gillibrand said.
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