Trump Cuts Off $10B In Child Care Funding: What This Means For NYC

NEW YORK CITY — Experts are saying roughly 123,000 kids in New York City will be affected by the Trump administration cutting off more than $10 billion in social services and child care funding to five Democrat-run states.

The Department of Health and Human Services in a statement said that the freeze in funding was done in part due to allegations of fraudulent child care programming in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York.

"For too long, Democrat-led states and Governors have been complicit in allowing massive amounts of fraud to occur under their watch," the health department noted.

In particular, funding will be cut from the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and the Social Services Block Grant program.

At least $7.35 billion in TANF money will be cut off from New York, California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota, according to the New York Post.

States will also lose $2.4 billion in CCDF funding. Another $869 million from the Social Services Block Grant is being held as well.

Gov. Kathy Hochul responded to The Department of Health and Human Services' decision on Tuesday:

"Why is there such a frontal assault on children in this nation from this administration? Just back in November, they just stopped feeding our kids. Now they won't vaccinate our kids. They are not allowing their parents to have their health care premiums covered without going up dramatically to make sure that our kids are raised safely and healthy," Hochul said. "We will fight this with every fiber of our being because our kids should not be political pawns in a fight that Donald Trump seems to have with blue state governors.

New York senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand both weighed in as well:

"What kind of heartless person uses innocent kids as political pawns? This goes beyond targeting blue states. It is upending the lives of working families and making our children pay the price for the sake of political games," Schumer said.

Gillibrand called the move "immoral and indefensible.”

“This has nothing to do with fraud and everything to do with political retribution that punishes poor children in need of assistance. I demand that President Trump unfreeze this funding and stop this brazen attack on our children," she said in a statement.