Trump’s Childcare Funding Freezes Are Going to Hit All Kids Hard |
In recent days, the Trump administration has taken dramatic steps to make federal funds for childcare more difficult to obtain. A lack of clarity around how a slew of new requirements will be implemented has left childcare providers reeling, and raised the specter of facility closures even as childcare costs skyrocket. As providers work to sort through the confusion, experts are warning that no family will be immune from the impact of these policy changes.
The administration has made it more difficult for childcare providers to obtain federal subsidies. In the wake of unverified allegations of fraud in Minnesota day care centers by right-wing influencers, the Department of Health and Human Services said it would freeze childcare funds to all states unless they met additional verification requirements. Days later, HHS announced that it would roll back Biden-era rules governing the Child Care and Development Fund, or CCDF, with the ostensible goal of preventing fraud, now requiring that states base payments to providers on attendance rather than enrollment, no longer mandating that providers be paid ahead of services, and reprioritizing vouchers instead of guaranteed slots for providers. On Tuesday, HHS said that it would specifically freeze $10 billion in childcare funds to five blue states—Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois, and Colorado—including nearly $2.4 billion from the CCDF.
“There is no evidence of clear or widespread fraud in the states that they have chosen now, so there is no way to anticipate who they would choose next. This is not evidence-based or data-based. This looks to be a form of punishment,” said Ruth Friedman, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, a progressive think tank. “HHS is not following their normal processes for investigating and responding to fraud.”
Although HHS has provided some guidance on the requirements that states will need to meet to receive federal childcare funds, there are still open questions on timelines for providing proof that money is being used to the administration’s........