Earlier this week, the Trump administration announced plans to freeze $10 billion across five states for three programs that help working parents afford childcare, ensure low-income families have basic necessities, and sustain child welfare and foster care systems. These programs include the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF); Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG).
“I strongly support Attorney General Ellison’s lawsuit to block the illegal withholding of funding for CCDF, TANF, and SSBG,” said Senator Melissa H. Wiklund, Chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services. “These funds are essential to keeping parents in the workforce, stabilizing childcare providers, and ensuring children are safe and supported.”
CCDF funding helps low-income parents of over 20,000 children in Minnesota afford childcare while they work or attend school. More than 4,000 childcare programs in Minnesota serve children who receive CCDF assistance. TANF is a critical lifeline that helps low-income families pay for necessities like food, clothing, and housing. This unjustified freeze would cut thousands of Minnesotans off from critical lifelines during a time of economic instability and food insecurity. SSBG funding supports basic social services like foster care funding, child protection, disability services and more.
“This freeze would destabilize families, push childcare providers of all sizes toward closure, and disrupt our workforce and economy, while doing nothing to strengthen accountability, oversight, or safety,” said Senator Wiklund.
“Federal officials are recklessly taking action via tweets based on viral videos, not by facts or the law. The administration has offered little clarity for these threatened cuts, leaving providers, families, and the state in limbo. While the federal government is posting on social media and pointing to debunked claims from a YouTube provocateur, Minnesota legislators and agencies have been doing the real work of strengthening program integrity, improving childcare reimbursement rates, and expanding access so families and providers can rely on these services.
“Ongoing attacks on our immigrant communities are compounding the harm that Minnesotans are enduring. Childcare providers and families report growing fear and uncertainty about their daily lives,” said Senator Wiklund. “They are afraid to bring their children to childcare and providers are worried about threats and harassment while nurturing children. These threats only deepen the crisis that Minnesota was already facing with high childcare costs for parents and low wages for providers.”
“We will keep fighting to protect these funds to ensure all Minnesota families have the stability, support, and access to care they deserve.”
Learn more about Sen. Wiklund.
Read more news from Sen. Wiklund.
