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this trump card The government says it will freeze child care funding in all states until they provide more verification and administrative data about the program, a move prompted by a series of alleged fraudulent schemes. minnesota Day care center run by Somali residents.
All 50 states will be affected by the review, but republican The administration focused much of its anger on blue Minnesota.
Minnesota will face additional hurdles in restarting child care funding as more verification is required of child care centers in the state that are suspected of fraud. Minnesota has seen a series of fraud schemes involving government programs in recent years, and the government has called for an audit of some of the state’s child care centers.
It’s unclear how much more robust states’ verification processes will be than before the new measures were implemented.
In a social media post announcing the change on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said it was in response to “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country.” Officials are also asking all states to provide additional verification to receive child care funding.
Here is some information about these initiatives:
All states require more verification to receive child care funding
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said all 50 states must provide additional levels of verification and administrative data before they can receive more money from the Child Care and Development Fund. However, before Minnesota can again receive child care funding, it must provide more verifications of the state’s allegedly fraudulent child care centers, such as attendance and licensing records, past enforcement actions and inspection reports.
O’Neill said in a post on Tuesday that all Administration for Children and Families payments nationwide require “justification and receipt or photographic evidence” before remittance, but a HHS spokesperson said Wednesday that the additional verification only applies to CCDF payments.
Walz says Trump is politicizing the issue
governor of minnesota Tim WaltzThe 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee said in a social media post that fraudsters are a serious problem that the state has been cracking down on for years, but that the move is part of “Trump’s long game.”
“He’s politicizing this issue to defund programs that help Minnesota,” Walz said.
State Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy condemned the move in a statement Wednesday.
“Republicans are playing a sick game and winning devastating prizes,” Murphy said. “Now, as Donald Trump’s operatives strip away critical funding, tens of thousands of Minnesota families will pay the price. Our day care system is already under strain; this reckless decision could lead to a collapse that affects us all.”
State government says fraud investigation may extend to other projects
In recent weeks, the government has begun efforts to track down fraud in other programs in Minnesota and is investigating fraud in other states. white house press secretary Caroline Levitt The administration is considering similar fraud investigations in other blue states, such as California and New York, he said in an interview on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday.
Levitt said the administration would continue to send officers to investigate “potential fraud sites” and deport undocumented immigrants in Minnesota, adding that the Department of Homeland Security was considering plans to revoke citizenship.
Levitt said the Labor Department is also investigating the state’s unemployment insurance program. The administration this month threatened to withhold SNAP food assistance funds from Democratic-controlled states such as Minnesota unless they provide information about who receives the aid. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent Minnesota a letter in December threatening to disqualify Minnesota from SNAP and cut funding unless the state recertified the eligibility of more than 100,000 families and interviewed them in person within 30 days, according to a lawsuit filed by Minnesota’s attorney general, whom Levitt criticized.
Focus on Minnesota
The news comes a day after U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials conducted a fraud investigation in Minneapolis, interviewing workers at unidentified businesses. Trump criticized the Walz administration’s handling of the cases, using them to target the Somali diaspora in the state, which has the largest Somali population in the United States.
In his Tuesday post, O’Neill, who serves as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, referenced a right-wing influencer who posted a video last week claiming he had uncovered up to $100 million in fraud at a day care center run by Somali residents in Minneapolis.
Meanwhile, there are concerns that home day care providers and members of the national Somali community could face harassment amid the vitriol, including Trump’s comments earlier this month calling Somali immigrants “trash.” Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown released a statement about home day care providers being harassed and accused of fraud, saying: “Showing up on someone’s porch, threatening or harassing them is not an investigation. Photographing minors who may be in the home is not an investigation either.”