IL Congressman Blasts Trump Childcare Cuts: 'We Are Not Going To Use Kids As Pawns'

EVANSTON, IL — Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and leaders at the Infant Welfare Society of Evanston gathered Friday to announce new legislation that aims to protect families and children from the Trump administration's blanket freeze of child care funding.

The Kids Before Cuts Act would prohibit the withholding of federal funds for social safety net programs without explicit authorization from Congress.

“This freeze is already hurting kids and families here in Illinois,” Congressman Krishnamoorthi said. "Cutting off this funding without evidence isn’t oversight. It’s punishing families who are doing their best. That’s why I’m introducing the Kids Before Cuts Act, to make sure no president can pull the rug out from under children and working families.”

Last week, the Trump administration froze $10 billion in funding from programs that support low-income families, including the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, the Child Care and Development Block Grant and the Social Service Block Grant. The freeze affected five Democrat-led states — Illinois, California, New York, Minnesota and Colorado — over allegations of fraudulent programming.

In Illinois alone, the freeze threatens access to child care assistance for approximately 100,1000 families and more than 150,000 children. To date, neither the White House nor the Department of Health and Human Services has provided evidence of fraud taking place in Illinois.

"Donald Trump's freeze of childcare funding puts the children of struggling families at risk. How do I know? Because I was one of them," Krishnamoorthi said.

As a child, Krishnamoorthi remembers his family living in public housing and relying on food stamps and other social safety net programs to survive. If those programs were not available for his family at the time, Krishnamoorthi said, his future would have turned out very different.

Parent and Infant Welfare Society Board Member Gabrielle Collins said that as a single mother, who is also in school, the possibility of losing childcare is devastating to her.

"I just feel like it's truly unfortunate for the families like myself, because it starts a chain of things. If we're unable to have daycare and CCAP program, that is assisting us with the payments, then I'm unable to work. And if I'm unable to work, then I'm unable to provide for my child," Collins said.

Krishnamoorthi called for bipartisan support of the Kids Before Cuts Act because children shouldn't have to suffer the consequences of political disagreements.

"I humbly appeal to Republicans and people of all political stripes to at least come together on this issue, if not others, and basically say we are not going to use our kids as pawns in our political disagreements," Krishnamoorthi said.