New York state officials denounced President Donald Trump's freeze of child care funding, a surprise move that clouds a state push to expand subsidies.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said roughly $3 billion in funding to child care programs is at stake. The federal government provides around 75% of the state’s child care subsidies, according to the state comptroller’s office. The money is paid through reimbursements, so providers won’t immediately feel the pinch, Hochul said.
“We're looking at our litigation strategy,” she said. “These are kids in red counties and blue counties who are going to be left without child care.”
The federal Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday that it was freezing access to certain federal child care and family assistance funds due to concerns over fraud. Federal prosecutors in Minnesota alleged a half-dozen people created businesses that claimed COVID-related relief funding for services that were never provided.
A right-wing influencer alleged that day care centers in that state run by Somali immigrants were engaged in a similar scheme. The funding freeze affects Minnesota and four other states run by Democrats, including New York.
“Families who rely on child care and family assistance programs deserve confidence that these resources are used lawfully and for their intended purpose,” Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill said in a statement. “This action reflects our commitment to program integrity, fiscal responsibility and compliance with federal requirements.”
New York lawmakers say they are being inappropriately targeted. And the shot is landing as they kicked off a push to expand subsidized child care in the Empire State.
More than a dozen Democratic legislators rallied Wednesday with labor leaders and parent activists to call for an expansion of pre-kindergarten programs. Some speakers said they spent more than $50,000 a year to pay for child care for two children under age 5.
“You should not have to be a millionaire to raise a family in this state,” said state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, a Democrat from Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge neighborhood.
Sen. Jabari Brisport, a democratic socialist who represents parts of Central Brooklyn, concluded his remarks at the rally by blasting the Trump administration’s freeze.
“I can't leave without giving a big shame to the Trump administration,” Brisport said. “You do not come for New York's children. We're getting our money.”
He said the state should raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for an expansion of existing prekindergarten programs to eventually include 3-year-olds and 2-year-olds. Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi, a Democrat from Queens, said the state should also increase funding for an existing program that subsidizes child care for younger children.
Hochul has said she doesn’t want to raise income taxes, the biggest source of state revenue. Republicans said that the state budget — expected to top $250 billion when Hochul formally unveils it later this month — is already too big.
“New Yorkers are being asked to believe the contradiction that record spending will somehow make life more affordable,” said Assemblymember Ed Ra, a Republican from Nassau County. “It hasn’t, and it won’t.”
Gounardes said the federal funding freeze only complicates the situation.
“We are going to have to figure out revenue sources for the push for universal child care with or without the federal government support there,” he said. “I think now we just have a tougher job ahead of us.”
