Tell Congress: Demand HHS Restore & Protect Child Care Funding NOW! TAKE ACTION

Hi Friend,

URGENT: While families are still struggling with rising costs across the board, the Trump administration has disastrously halted funding to 5 “blue” states, ripping child care, planned cash assistance, and threatening the ability of families to go to work, to survive, and to thrive. 

Tell your member of Congress to call on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to IMMEDIATELY restore funding and protect child care. 

Wait – what is happening? Truly twilight zone times. The child care system is under attack by the Trump administration, which is using unfounded claims of fraud, from a viral YouTube video of a creepy man going to the doors of Somali child care providers asking to see and film the children in their care, to take actions that will make child care more expensive for families, make children less safe, and make it harder for child care providers to keep their doors open. [1] 

Every dollar meant for children should be spent on children. In fact, the claims around child care fraud in Minnesota are years old and have been dealt with and oversight has been strengthened. [2] But this is not about fraud. This is a manufactured crisis that stokes fears and hatred, isolating us from each other, while Trump carries out a destructive immigration agenda that terrifies our immigrant neighbors and family, people of color, and entire communities, tears apart our systems of care, and undermines our families, businesses, and our economy.

Like we saw with DOGE, this is Trump’s playbook to a tee —it has nothing to do with fraud. Trump and his GOP allies want to slash and burn opportunities for families to thrive: They don’t care about opening avenues so families can afford child care or about helping the small businesses that keep our economy and communities working. And they are starting with the 5 “blue” states of California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York as yet another case of political retribution on the backs of hardworking families. [3]

Join us and tell Congress to immediately have child care funding restored and protected. Families need and deserve affordability today, tomorrow, and for our future. 

Child care is not a “red” or “blue” issue – the simple fact is that ALL families need affordable child care and they need it now. And the Trump administration is charading around like they are protecting children while implementing policies that will rip child care away from hardworking families across the country. 

While the billionaires stacked in the Trump administration might not be aware, it can only take one day without child care to lose your job. American families living in this House of Cards can’t afford to have the house come tumbling down when you rip child care away from our foundation. Cutting off or slowing child care funding for families will be catastrophic for children, families, providers, communities, and our economy. 

Fraud should never be tolerated. Which is why local, state, and federal regulations are in place to ensure children and families are served with care, and that taxpayer dollars are well spent. And, we can all agree that children should always be protected. 

Allowing unknown, ill-informed, and potentially dubious men to show up at the doorsteps of the very child care centers and homes that provide the safe and loving care for our youngest, demanding to “see” and video our children is not what any parent would define as protecting our children. In fact, that is wildly bizarre, risky, and potentially dangerous behavior. And it must stop. Every state has a process to ensure the dollars are spent appropriately as well as to investigate potential problems. We don’t punish a whole town when one person steals a candy bar. It makes no sense to punish thousands of hardworking families for unsubstantiated, baseless allegations against a few people.

Families understand more than anyone that the impacts of this reckless decision to halt child care funds will be swift and deeply harmful. Across the 5 states that Trump is freezing child care funding for, more than 500,000 children in over 44,000 programs could be impacted, including more than 300,000 children who rely on child care assistance and another 200,000 who do not directly receive assistance but who rely on child care centers that receive federal assistance. [4] The aggregate cost to families could total more than $400 million annually in lost parental earnings and other impacts. Businesses in those states (California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York) could lose another $119 million annually in reduced revenue from their workforce’s child care disruptions and increased hiring costs due to parent employees leaving or reducing their work hours because of the loss of child care.[5]  And an unsurprising result could be more of a motherhood penalty: more than 156,000 moms of young children could be pushed out of work as a result of the loss of child care. [6] This is simply unacceptable.

Ask any parent or caregiver: Families already are in the middle of a care crisis. Child care costs more than rent, mortgage, and college tuition in far too many places across this country. 

Tell Congress to fight for the hard working families in their districts and call the Department of Health and Human Services right now to restore funding and protect the child care families depend on.The vast majority of private sector workers still don’t have paid leave, and health care premiums are about to skyrocket for households across the country because President Trump and Republicans refused to act, and families can’t afford increases in child care too right now.

Our focus should be on making it easier and more affordable for families to get the child care they need. Instead, the Trump administration continues to ram an agenda through that hurts people and makes it so much harder to live in this country of ours. That is a crisis and a tragedy of their making. 

Together we are a powerful voice for children and families,

Lauren, Nina, Kristin, and the entire MomsRising and and MamásConPoder Team 

References

[1] “What to know about Nick Shirley, the YouTuber alleging day care fraud in Minnesota”. NPR. 

[2] “How the Minnesota fraud scandal could upend American child care”  Vox. 

[3] “Trump freezes over $10 billion in childcare, family assistance funds to 5 US states”. Reuters.

[4] “Trump’s Child Care Funding Freeze in Five States Could Cost Families $400 Million”. Julie Kashen, The Century Foundation. 

[5] “Trump’s Child Care Funding Freeze in Five States Could Cost Families $400 Million”. Julie Kashen, The Century Foundation. 

[6] “Trump’s Child Care Funding Freeze in Five States Could Cost Families $400 Million”. Julie Kashen, The Century Foundation.

You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time.