After announcing it was freezing federal payments to Minnesota child care programs, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services now says it is freezing funds to every state in the nation based on the claim that it needs additional data from states to protect against fraud.
An agency spokesperson confirmed the halt of funds to MS NOW on Thursday, saying states would have to provide more information to restore access to federal matching funds.
The Trump administration has not provided evidence of widespread child care provider fraud across the country. Its crackdown appears to be a response to allegations by YouTube influencer Nick Shirley that child care providers in Minnesota are engaged in widespread fraud.
But as MS NOW’s Julianne McShane reported Wednesday, Shirley’s allegations are unsubstantiated. CBS affiliate WCCO-TV, McShane noted, found that all but two of the centers Shirley mentioned have active licenses, and state regulators visited all the active locations within the past six months.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who campaigned against Trump as the Democratic nominee for vice president, said on X on Tuesday, “This is Trump’s long game. We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue — but this has been his plan all along.”
The Trump administration has offered no rationale for why additional scrutiny of Minnesota should result in changing the administrative burden of child care providers across the country.
And as The Associated Press reported, “It is unclear how much more robust the verification process for states will be than it already has been.”
Child care providers say some Minnesota families are at risking of losing access to child care due to the freeze.
The Trump administration’s efforts are likely to be challenged in court. According to the AP, Minnesota Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison said Wednesday that he was “exploring all our legal options to ensure that critical child care services do not get abruptly slashed based on pretext and grandstanding.”
Zeeshan Aleem is a writer and editor for MS NOW. He primarily writes about politics and foreign policy.