John,

With child care costs skyrocketing, hundreds of thousands of families depend on federal child care funding to care for their children while the parents and guardians go to work. Without it, they’ll be forced to choose between essentials such as food and housing, or risk losing their child care altogether, which could force them to leave their jobs.

Now, the Trump administration is trying to punish families as part of a partisan attack on his perceived political opponents.

The Trump administration tried to freeze $10 billion in funding for TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) for five states: California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York. Each one has a Democratic governor and Trump specifically targeted Minnesota after a MAGA YouTube influencer posted a video with unsubstantiated claims about child care fraud in the Somali community in Minnesota.

On January 23rd, a federal judge issued a temporary ruling to pause the attempted freeze, but that pause will end tomorrow.¹ Congress needs to hear from us immediately.

Send an urgent message to Congress demanding that they end Trump’s attack on child care.

If allowed to proceed, the funding freeze will shut down child care centers and force families to scramble to find care for their kids while they’re at work. Some people will have to choose between caring for their kids and going to work. Many will lose their jobs, throwing families into chaos.

But the Trump administration doesn’t care about that. This funding freeze could be a harbinger of more things to come. If the administration can get away with this, there is nothing stopping them from trying again, next time on an even larger scale. As our allies at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said:²

“The Administration’s attempted five-state funding freeze represents a direct threat to all federal funding in every state. If the Administration can unilaterally block funding to any state on the flimsiest of pretexts, without legal authority or justification, then every federal program and service people rely on is at risk.”

This is nothing more than a spiteful partisan attack that will cause millions of working families to suffer needlessly.

Congress must assert its power of the purse and stand up to the bullies in the Trump administration. The pause on carrying out the funding freeze ends tomorrow. Congress needs to hear from you.

Send them a message demanding they end this administration’s attacks on children and families.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, CHN Action

¹ Judge rules Trump administration must keep funding child care subsidies in 5 states for now
² Trump Administration’s Five-State Funding Freeze Is Unlawful, Harmful, and a Major Threat to People in Every State