5 States Sue Trump Administration Over Frozen HHS Funds For Low-Income Families

New York Attorney General Letitia James is among the five Attorneys general from Democrat-led states suing the Trump administration for freezing funds intended for programs that assist low-income families. 

According to CBS News, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois, and New York are the states suing the Trump administration, arguing that the funding freeze is an unconstitutional abuse of power. The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York seeks an order releasing the funds and halting the administration’s freeze. 

“Once again, the most vulnerable families in our communities are bearing the brunt of this administration’s campaign of chaos and retribution,” James said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told the states this week that it would be freezing $10 billion in funds intended to support the Child Care and Development Fund, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and the Social Services Block Grant. 

The freeze initially only targeted Minnesota and was announced in response to a video from right-wing influencer Nick Shirley with unverified claims that Somali immigrants were running fraudulent daycare centers. Apparently, workers refusing to let a random man with a camera into their daycare is all you need to prove fraud these days.

Since this is the Trump administration, they didn’t let small things like fact-checking and independent verification get in the way of an opportunity to hurt low-income families. HHS Secretary/sentient leather wallet Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told CBS News that the department didn’t freeze the funds because the states had Democrat leadership, but because they didn’t submit a plan to end the alleged fraud in their states. 

“The best way to help poor families is to end the fraud,” he told CBS News. Kennedy said the five states were impacted, not because they’re run by Democrats, but because they “refuse to cooperate with developing plans that would end the fraud.” Kennedy and the HHS have yet to release any tangible evidence detailing fraud in any of the aforementioned states. 

“We gave them a warning,” Kennedy added, “But if you won’t show us a plan, a workable plan, we’re gonna cut it off until you do.” How exactly are the states expected to come up with a plan to address fraud when HHS isn’t providing any evidence of fraud? I don’t know how you can solve a problem without first having proof of the problem. 

Alex J. Adams, assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, sent letters to the impacted states stating they have reason to believe the states were providing benefits to people who were in the country illegally. The letter didn’t provide evidence of the fraud, but did request the names and Social Security numbers of everyone who received funds through the programs 

“The letters requested that California turn over essentially every document ever associated with the state’s implementation of these federal programs and do so within 14 days, by Jan. 20, including personally identifiable information about program participants,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta told CBS News. “That is deeply concerning and also deeply frustrating.”

So basically, HHS made accusations of fraud without providing any tangible evidence and gave the states an unrealistic deadline to not only execute a plan to address the unverified fraud, but also to send over massive amounts of data. Now, due to their incompetence, low-income families are once again being denied essential funds. 

SEE ALSO:

HHS Freezing Child Care Funds In Minnesota Over Fraud Claims

Trump Administration Sued By 23 States, DC Over Slashed Health Funding