The following statement can be attributed to Andrea Paluso and Erica Gallegos, Co-Directors of the Child Care for Every Family Network

Late on Monday, January 27, President Trump decided to put a “freeze” on programs that receive federal funding, which was supposed to go into effect Tuesday, January 28 at 5pm. Trump did this with little input and no notice, creating mass confusion and chaos for families who count on federally-funded programs.

• Across the country, Head Start providers couldn’t log into their online funding system and received a message warning about delays. With tight budgets, even small delays can mean challenges covering payroll, rent, etc. 
• Medicaid reimbursement portals went down in all 50 states, according to Sen. Ron Wyden. 
• Community health centers across the country also could not access the HHS Payment Management system. Federal grants are the main source of funding for CHCs (thousands of outpatient clinics nationwide that provide primary care in underserved areas) according to the National Association of Community Health Centers. 
• Advocates from the School Nutrition Association scrambled to get clarity about whether school meals will be impacted by the freeze. 
• Meal on Wheels – which gets funding via a federal grant – reported that they also don’t have clarity on whether they will be impacted. A spokesperson noted, “the uncertainty right now is creating chaos for local Meals on Wheels providers not knowing whether they should be serving meals today. Which unfortunately means seniors will panic not knowing where their next meals will come from.”
• Senator Warren (D-MA) noted that in her home state, the freeze will make it hard for a nonprofit that helps veterans with transitional housing to buy and prepare food for 100+ veterans–and potentially to pay rent. Similarly, a non-profit in CA told the Washington Post that they provide emergency funds to help homeless veterans including to get them into hotels or shelters. But since they are 100% by federal grants, these veterans will be harmed by the freeze.  
• Senator Fetterman (D-PA) noted that in Pennsylvania over a dozen PA organizations have alerted him that “their access to funds through the Federal Payment Management System have been cut off.”
• According to the AP, “officials in Prichard, Alabama, feared they wouldn’t receive infrastructure funding to fix their leaking drinking water system.”
• Atlanta’s mayor announced that “partner agencies like Atlanta Housing, Partners for HOME and other organizations who currently cannot access the portals they use to pay people’s rents, operational costs or fund economic programs.”
• The National Alliance to End Homelessness reported that many grantees cannot access their financial system to draw down funds. Their executive director noted that, “what we are hearing this morning is, honestly, a pretty good amount of panic.” 

Make no mistake about what’s happening: Trump’s holding our tax dollars hostage to bully federal agencies into doing the bidding of his billionaire donors. This is cruel and illegal. 

Even a temporary freeze on federally funded programs will have extremely painful impacts for people in EVERY part of the country who count on programs that receive federal funding. Our families cannot afford to “freeze” paying for child care, food or housing — even for one day.

Trump’s funding freeze could potentially impact the 1.4 million children who benefit from the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) every month. These funds help pay for child care for families who earn low or no wages and can’t afford it. Not to mention the two billion families that rely on child care funding via the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or the college student parents who rely on CCAMPIS. 

We must also keep in mind the programs that were supposedly excluded from this temporary freeze. Even though the Trump Administration said Head Start would not be impacted it was: Head Start programs across the country reported that they couldn’t access the system that allows them to draw down their federal funds (to pay for staff salaries, supplies, etc) this morning. Though the system is reportedly back up now, providers and families were left scrambling. Nearly 800,000 kids and their families currently benefit from Head Start and stand to be harmed by Trump playing king and ignoring the Constitution and the power that Congress holds. 

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The Child Care for Every Family Network (La Red)—representing 1,500+ state and national organizations, child care providers, impacted families, and organizers across the country—has made a call-to-action for families and child care providers to express their outrage and demand action from Congress to stop Trump’s unconstitutional behavior: childcareforeveryfamily.org/action