The Department of Health and Human Services is cutting $10 billion in funds for child care and social services programs across several Democrat-led states based on allegations of welfare fraud.
The funding freeze comes as the Trump administration has cracked down on social services fraud in Minnesota, freezing all child care payments to the state on Dec. 30 following a YouTube video exposing allegedly fraudulent day care centers in the state. The administration has begun alleging welfare fraud in other blue states, with the HHS freezing child care funds in California, New York, Illinois, Colorado, and Minnesota this week.
An HHS official confirmed the expanded funding freeze to the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. HHS is cutting off taxpayer funds to three services across the five states: the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, the Child Care and Development Fund, and the Social Services Block Grant Program.
HHS will pause approximately $7.35 billion in Temporary Assistance to Needy Families money across the states, freezing funds to the program that helps low-income families with children become economically stable. The cuts will also affect about $2.4 billion in Child Care and Development Fund money, which helps low-income, working families access child care, and $869 million in Social Services Block grant program money, which allows states to individualize social service funds for their own needs.
“For too long, Democrat-led states and Governors have been complicit in allowing massive amounts of fraud to occur under their watch. Under the Trump Administration, we are ensuring that federal taxpayer dollars are being used for legitimate purposes. We will ensure these states are following the law and protecting hard-earned taxpayer money,” Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesman, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
Democratic officials from these states are hitting back against the funding cuts. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) said the funding cuts are part of a “frontal assault on children” from the Trump administration, according to ABC7 New York.
“Now they don’t give a damn about child care for kids,” Hochul said. “We will fight this with every fiber of our being because our kids should not be political pawns in a fight that Donald Trump seems to have with blue state governors.”
The funding freeze comes as the HHS is concerned that the dispersed money is being used to benefit noncitizens, according to the New York Post.
HOW MINNESOTA’S SOMALI FRAUD INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX HAS STOLEN MILLIONS FROM MEDICAID
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) said in an interview with MS Now that if the Trump administration wants to investigate fraud in California, “bring it on.”
“If he has some unique insight and information, I look forward to partnering with him,” Newsom said. “Can’t stand fraud, can’t stand waste and abuse.”
