Tell Congress: Demand HHS Restore & Protect Child Care Funding NOW!
[ [link removed] ]Take Action Now
[ [link removed] ]TAKE ACTION

Dear Friend,

Your senators need to hear from you! Members of Congress will be holding a
hearing this week on child care -- so let's make it loud and clear that
families need easier and more affordable access to child care, NOT harmful
freezes!

[ [link removed] ]Tell your member of Congress to act IMMEDIATELY to restore and protect
child care funding.

What is happening?

The Trump administration drastically and abruptly undercut access to child
care for over half a million children in five states. This disastrous
action was prompted by a right-wing influencer’s skewed video trying to
“prove” unfounded allegations of fraud by attempting to gain unauthorized
access to a number of Minnesota child care centers. Now, Republicans in
the Senate are further relying on this weaponized footage to hold a Child
Care “Fraud” Hearing which, in reality, is less about proving fraud and
more about advancing their anti-family, anti-immigrant, pro-billionaire
agenda.

We all know that fraud is, of course, never okay, but empowering and
relying on right-wing social media influencers to do the work of
government investigations is not the answer to the national child care
crisis. Nor do any parents want creepy men demanding entry into their
children’s child care centers and taking videos of their children. [1]

Yet despite opposition from parents, federal child care funds were not
only frozen in the entire state of Minnesota, but also in California,
Colorado, Illinois, and New York — cutting more than $10 billion in child
care and family programs completely unrelated to these allegations,
throwing the fate of families’ budgets and livelihoods into chaos. [ [link removed] ]
Though a federal judge has temporarily blocked the freeze, programs and
families are mired in uncertainty when it comes to the immediate and
long-term future of their access to care. [ [link removed] ]

Freezing critical child care funds for hundreds of thousands of children
and targeting immigrants in our communities, who are a critical part of
the care workforce, does not make the lives of families any easier or more
affordable. In fact, it does the opposite – it makes access to quality,
affordable child care much harder.

[2]Urge Congress to immediately have child care funding restored and
protected!

We won't be silent as child care continues to be under attack. Thank you
for raising your voice!

With gratitude,

-Nadia, Lauren, Nina, Kristin, and the entire MomsRising and MamásConPoder
Team

P.S. [3]Are you worried about the impact of the child care freeze on your
family or community? Share your child care story with us now to make a
difference!

[1] [ [link removed] ]“How the Minnesota fraud scandal could upend American child care”
Vox.
[2] [ [link removed] ]Trump’s Attack on Child Care Funding Undermines Early Educators,
Shortchanges Children, and Increases Costs for Families
[3] [ [link removed] ]Federal judge blocks Trump administration’s freeze of $10 billion
in child-care funds

---------- Forwarded message ---------

Hi S,

URGENT: While families are still struggling with rising costs across the
board, the Trump administration has disastrously halted funding to 5
“blue” states, ripping child care, planned cash assistance, and
threatening the ability of families to go to work, to survive, and to
thrive.

[ [link removed] ]Tell your member of Congress to call on the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services to IMMEDIATELY restore funding and protect child care.

Wait – what is happening? Truly twilight zone times. The child care system
is under attack by the Trump administration, which is using unfounded
claims of fraud, from a viral YouTube video of a creepy man going to the
doors of Somali child care providers asking to see and film the children
in their care, to take actions that will make child care more expensive
for families, make children less safe, and make it harder for child care
providers to keep their doors open. [1]

Every dollar meant for children should be spent on children. In fact, the
claims around child care fraud in Minnesota are years old and have been
dealt with and oversight has been strengthened. [2] But this is not about
fraud. This is a manufactured crisis that stokes fears and hatred,
isolating us from each other, while Trump carries out a destructive
immigration agenda that terrifies our immigrant neighbors and family,
people of color, and entire communities, tears apart our systems of care,
and undermines our families, businesses, and our economy.

Like we saw with DOGE, this is Trump’s playbook to a tee —it has nothing
to do with fraud. Trump and his GOP allies want to slash and burn
opportunities for families to thrive: They don’t care about opening
avenues so families can afford child care or about helping the small
businesses that keep our economy and communities working. And they are
starting with the 5 “blue” states of California, Colorado, Illinois,
Minnesota, and New York as yet another case of political retribution on
the backs of hardworking families. [3]

[ [link removed] ]Join us and tell Congress to immediately have child care funding
restored and protected. Families need and deserve affordability today,
tomorrow, and for our future.

Child care is not a “red” or “blue” issue – the simple fact is that ALL
families need affordable child care and they need it now. And the Trump
administration is charading around like they are protecting children while
implementing policies that will rip child care away from hardworking
families across the country.

[ [link removed] ]While the billionaires stacked in the Trump administration might not be
aware, it can only take one day without child care to lose your job.
American families living in this House of Cards can’t afford to have the
house come tumbling down when you rip child care away from our foundation.
Cutting off or slowing child care funding for families will be
catastrophic for children, families, providers, communities, and our
economy.

Fraud should never be tolerated. Which is why local, state, and federal
regulations are in place to ensure children and families are served with
care, and that taxpayer dollars are well spent. And, we can all agree that
children should always be protected.

Allowing unknown, ill-informed, and potentially dubious men to show up at
the doorsteps of the very child care centers and homes that provide the
safe and loving care for our youngest, demanding to “see” and video our
children is not what any parent would define as protecting our children.
In fact, that is wildly bizarre, risky, and potentially dangerous
behavior. And it must stop. Every state has a process to ensure the
dollars are spent appropriately as well as to investigate potential
problems. We don’t punish a whole town when one person steals a candy bar.
It makes no sense to punish thousands of hardworking families for
unsubstantiated, baseless allegations against a few people.

Families understand more than anyone that the impacts of this reckless
decision to halt child care funds will be swift and deeply harmful. Across
the 5 states that Trump is freezing child care funding for, more than
500,000 children in over 44,000 programs could be impacted, including more
than 300,000 children who rely on child care assistance and another
200,000 who do not directly receive assistance but who rely on child care
centers that receive federal assistance. [4] The aggregate cost to
families could total more than $400 million annually in lost parental
earnings and other impacts. Businesses in those states (California,
Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York) could lose another $119
million annually in reduced revenue from their workforce’s child care
disruptions and increased hiring costs due to parent employees leaving or
reducing their work hours because of the loss of child care.[5] And an
unsurprising result could be more of a motherhood penalty: more than
156,000 moms of young children could be pushed out of work as a result of
the loss of child care. [6] This is simply unacceptable.

Ask any parent or caregiver: Families already are in the middle of a care
crisis. Child care costs more than rent, mortgage, and college tuition in
far too many places across this country.

[ [link removed] ]Tell Congress to fight for the hard working families in their
districts and call the Department of Health and Human Services right now
to restore funding and protect the child care families depend on.The vast
majority of private sector workers still don’t have paid leave, and health
care premiums are about to skyrocket for households across the country
because President Trump and Republicans refused to act, and families can’t
afford increases in child care too right now.

[ [link removed] ]Our focus should be on making it easier and more affordable for
families to get the child care they need. Instead, the Trump
administration continues to ram an agenda that hurts people and makes it
so much harder to live in this country of ours. That is a crisis and a
tragedy of their making.

Together we are a powerful voice for children and families,

-Lauren, Nina, Kristin, and the entire MomsRising and and MamásConPoder
Team

References

[1] [ [link removed] ]“What to know about Nick Shirley, the YouTuber alleging day care
fraud in Minnesota”. NPR.

[2] [ [link removed] ]“How the Minnesota fraud scandal could upend American child care”
Vox.

[3] [ [link removed] ]“Trump freezes over $10 billion in childcare, family assistance
funds to 5 US states”. Reuters.

[4] [ [link removed] ]“Trump’s Child Care Funding Freeze in Five States Could Cost
Families $400 Million”. Julie Kashen, The Century Foundation.

[5] [ [link removed] ]“Trump’s Child Care Funding Freeze in Five States Could Cost
Families $400 Million”. Julie Kashen, The Century Foundation.

[6] [ [link removed] ]“Trump’s Child Care Funding Freeze in Five States Could Cost
Families $400 Million”. Julie Kashen, The Century Foundation.


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