Excerpts
US families are facing “impossible choices” as the Trump administration pushes to freeze federal funds for childcare and family assistance in five states over claims of potential fraud and misuse of taxpayer funds.
Billions of dollars of funding are at risk in Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois, and Colorado, each with state governments run by Democrats.
Alice Dryden, a childcare worker in Chicago, Illinois, told the Guardian, freezing federal childcare funds would be a “disaster” for the families reliant on them.
“If we had to close our doors or close some classrooms, these families would be faced with impossible choices,” said Dryden. “It wouldn’t just be a disaster for the families and the children who don’t have daycare to go to any more. This is a support network for the entire community. Our workforce allows the rest of the workforce in the city and the state to function.”
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The allegations were debunked by media outlets which found no evidence of any of the childcare centers misusing federal funds.
The recent fraud claims have cited a 2021 Covid-19 fraud investigation over a meals program, Feeding Our Future, that did find widespread fraud and was first prosecuted under the Biden administration and led to the convictions of dozens of Somali-Americans.
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A timeline or details of the freeze were not provided by the federal government, which noted the funds will remain frozen until HHS’s Administration for Children and Families (ACF) “completes a review and determines that states are in compliance with federal requirements”.
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