Democratic states file lawsuit to halt Trump freeze of social assistance and child care funds
By Tami Luhby, CNN
(CNN) — Five Democrat-led states are suing the Trump administration to stop it from halting $10 billion in social assistance and child care funding in the wake of a widespread probe into federal funding fraud in Minnesota.
In the lawsuit, filed Thursday evening in federal court in New York’s Southern District, the coalition of states – California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York – are asking the court to prevent the funding freeze from being implemented. The states argue the move is unconstitutional and also violates the laws and regulations governing the federal aid programs.
Led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, the states say the Trump administration has not provided any “legitimate justification” for halting the funds. Also, in the letters the states received, the administration failed to provide any evidence of the potential fraud, which is why it claims the freeze is needed.
“Defendants have no statutory or constitutional authority to do this,” the suit states, referring to the freeze. “Nor do they have any justification for this action beyond a desire to punish Plaintiff States for their political leadership. The action is thus clearly unlawful many times over.”
The coalition also argues the administration’s demand that the states turn over nearly all documents for the affected programs, as well as years of data, including personally identifiable information, within 14 days is overly broad and should be blocked.
The case is the latest court fight between Democratic states and the Trump administration. States have previously sued the administration for freezing other federal funding streams, with mixed results.
At issue now is the US Department of Health and Human Services’ decision on Tuesday to pause funding for the states, suggesting without evidence that the money has been used fraudulently.
The freeze affects $7.4 billion in funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance to households, along with nearly $2.4 billion for the Child Care and Development Fund. The department will also hold around $870 million from the Social Services Block Grant.
“The importance of these programs cannot be overstated—they provide cash assistance and fund services to help low-income and vulnerable families,” the suit states. “Without these programs, there will be immediate and devastating impacts in Plaintiff States.”
The five states must submit justifications and documentation before payments are released, as part of HHS’ recent expansion of its Defend the Spend system to all Administration for Children and Families’ payments nationwide, according to the agency.
HHS is also looking at whether benefits were improperly provided to ineligible immigrants.
The freeze comes days after the Trump administration paused federal funding of child care programs in Minnesota amid a deepening federal probe into allegations of fraud involving social services.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul alluded to the coming court battle at a news conference on Tuesday, saying, “This is a fight we’re going to have to take on if we get that notification.”
“We’ll 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,” she added.
The-CNN-Wire
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