James Blocks $10B Cut to Childcare & Support Programs

New York’s Attorney General Letitia James has secured a court order blocking the Trump administration’s attempt to slash $10 billion from critical family support programs. The funding cut, which targeted childcare and assistance for vulnerable families, was halted after a lawsuit filed by James and four other states.

In a statement, James emphasized the importance of these funds in maintaining the well-being of New York’s most vulnerable populations. ‘This decision is a critical victory for families whose lives have been upended by this administration’s cruelty,’ she said.

The funding freeze, which threatened programs like the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), was deemed illegal and halted by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The court granted a temporary restraining order at the request of the states involved.

Attorney General James was joined in the lawsuit by her counterparts from California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota, highlighting the cross-state effort to protect these vital resources.

The affected programs are crucial for providing essential services to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, including childcare for working parents and support for survivors of domestic violence. ‘These funds provide resources that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers depend on,’ James noted.

‘This illegal funding freeze should have never happened, and I will keep fighting to uphold the law and protect funding that our communities need,’ James concluded, vowing continued resistance to any attempts to erode family support services.