Lawyer Normal Letitia James warned that President Trump is placing essentially the most susceptible New Yorkers in danger as she and 4 different attorneys basic head to court docket in a bid to reverse the administration’s withholding $10 billion in funding for baby care and different social companies packages.
The funding freeze, which impacts greater than $3 billion in federal {dollars} throughout New York state, may jeopardize key anti-poverty packages, minimize low-income dad and mom off from care for his or her kids, and drive daycares to shutter, the attorneys basic warned — simply as Gov. Hochul and Mayor Mamdani look to increase common baby care.
“This administration is now threatening to cut off child care and other critical programs that parents depend on to provide for their children,” James stated in an announcement. “As New Yorkers struggle with the rising cost of living, I will not allow this administration to play political games with the resources families need to help make ends meet.”
The Trump administration has stated the pause got here in response to considerations about fraud within the baby care system that require additional assessment, together with advantages being supplied to non-Americans.
“It’s unfortunate that these Attorney Generals from these Democrat-led states are less focused on reducing fraud and more focused on partisan political stunts,” Mike Stuart, basic counsel on the Well being Division, stated on X. “HHS stands by its decision to take this action to defend American taxpayers. We identified serious concerns in these states that warranted immediate review and action.”
In a press launch on Thursday night time, James stated the administration has not supplied proof of fraud or misuse of kid care funding in New York, whereas ignoring the usual processes for withholding such funds.
She and the attorneys basic of California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota are searching for a court docket order in Manhattan ruling the funding freeze unlawful and directing federal officers to renew the common circulate of funds.
New York will run out of funds for short-term help for low-income by the tip of the month, until the suspension in help is reversed, a rep for the governor’s workplace stated earlier this week.
The state can be trying to increase entry to baby care vouchers for low-income households, Hochul introduced Thursday alongside Mamdani as a part of a broader plan to attain common baby care. That effort may very well be derailed if the attorneys basic can not safe a court docket injunction, and the brand new state funding should be reallocated to backfill federal funding gaps.
Within the grievance, the attorneys basic say the states have been requested to show over a trove of paperwork associated to their use of billions of {dollars} of federal funding — a request they characterised as “an impossible task on an impossible timeline.”
“This request reveals the fundamental problem with defendants’ position: they did not engage in any meaningful investigation before taking the draconian step of withholding all funding under the programs and only now seek to find any evidence of noncompliance,” the attorneys basic wrote.
“In other words: the [Trump administration’s] data demand is a fishing expedition to find a post hoc rationalization for the freeze itself.”
