Dozens of Democratic lawmakers from the blue states targeted by the Trump administration’s latest funding freeze are calling on the administration to restore more than $10 billion cut from social welfare programs.
More than 70 lawmakers signed a letter, first obtained by NOTUS, to the Department of Health and Human Services asking for the funds to be released. Funding has been cut for five states: New York, Colorado, California, Minnesota and Illinois.
In making the cuts, the Trump administration argued that the social service spending is riddled with fraud. The Democratic lawmakers pushed back on that assessment.
“HHS has justified this freeze by citing alleged administrative failures and fraud, yet has provided no public evidence demonstrating misconduct of any kind that would warrant such an extraordinary and disruptive action,” the lawmakers said in the letter, led by Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.
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“We urge HHS to immediately reinstate funding flows while providing transparent, evidence-based justification for any claims of misuse,” the lawmakers demanded in the letter. “American children and families are not bargaining chips. Their health, safety, and stability must not be compromised by administrative actions.”
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While the administration has pointed to no instances of fraud in most of the states subject to the funding freeze, the White House has latched onto an investigation of fraudulent use of COVID-era spending in Minnesota.
The recent cuts by the administration to the five blue states targeted three programs: The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, the Child Care and Development Fund, and the Social Services Block Grant program.
“The department did not accompany the announcement with detailed evidence of systemic fraud,” Morelle told NOTUS in a statement. “The freeze jeopardizes services for low-income families, working parents, and child-care providers who rely on these programs to stay afloat.”
In the letter, the lawmakers noted HHS’s move was unwarranted and “disruptive,” and that to pause funding to Democratic states, the agency needed to explain why oversight mechanisms in place to prevent this had failed.
“If specific instances of misuse or fraud have been identified, they should be addressed through targeted investigations and corrective action, not through a sweeping and indiscriminate funding freeze,” lawmakers said.
The lawmakers also accused the administration of having political motives behind cutting off the funding.
“Congress appropriated these funds to support children and families, not to be withheld as political retribution,” the letter states. “This decision undermines federal-state partnerships, destabilizes child care systems, and erodes confidence in HHS’s stewardship of programs fundamental to the economic stability and well-being of children and families.”
The letter was addressed to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Alex J. Adams, the HHS official who oversees the Administration for Children and Families, which is in charge of managing federal funding for childcare services to the states.
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