Health Dept. to Freeze $10 Billion in Funding to 5 Democratic States [View all]

Source: New York Times

Health Dept. to Freeze $10 Billion in Funding to 5 Democratic States

The funding pause could jeopardize child care and other programs that serve hundreds of thousands of households in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York.



A Department of Health and Human Services spokesman cited “massive amounts of fraud” as the reason for the freeze, but did not provide evidence of fraud in four of the states. Michael A. McCoy for The New York Times

By Minho Kim
Reporting from Washington
Jan. 6, 2026
Updated 9:09 a.m. ET

The Trump administration plans to freeze $10 billion in funding for child care subsidies, social services and cash support for low-income families in five states controlled by Democrats, claiming widespread fraud throughout those states, without citing evidence, after a major welfare fraud scheme in one of them.

Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois and Colorado will be cut off from around $7 billion in funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance to households with children, according to two people familiar with the matter. The five states will also lose access to nearly $2.4 billion for the Child Care Development Fund, which supports child care for working parents, and around $870 million for social services grants that mostly benefit children at risk, the people said.

The funding pause could jeopardize programs that serve hundreds of thousands of low-income households in the five states.

The planned freeze appears to build on the administration’s pause last week in $185 million in annual aid to Minnesota day care centers after investigators said that more than a dozen welfare fraud schemes in that state had led to billions of dollars in taxpayer losses.

{snip}

Chris Cameron contributed reporting.

Minho Kim reports on breaking news for The Times from Washington.
https://www.nytimes.com/by/minho-kim

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/us/politics/child-care-funding-cuts-trump.html

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Reposted by Nobody Can Stop Popehat
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social

“Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois and Colorado will be cut off from around billion in funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance to households with children, according to two people familiar with the matter.”

Monstrously cruel.

— Murshed Zaheed (@murshedz.bsky.social) 2026-01-06T14:20:57.828Z

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Murshed Zaheed
‪@murshedz.bsky.social‬

“Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois and Colorado will be cut off from around $7 billion in funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance to households with children, according to two people familiar with the matter.”

Monstrously cruel.

Health Dept. to Freeze $10 Billion in Funding to 5 Democratic States
www.nytimes.com
9:20 AM · Jan 6, 2026
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