Judge says Trump administration can’t block child care, other programme money for 5 states for now

The programmes are the Child Care and Development Fund, which subsidizes child care for children from low-income families; the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance and job training; and the Social Services Block Grant, a smaller fund that provides money for a variety of programmes.
The five states say they receive a total of more than USD 10 billion a year from the programmes.

US District Judge Arun Subramanian, who was nominated to the bench by former President Joe Biden, did not rule on the legality of the funding freeze, but he said the five states had met a legal threshold “to protect the status quo” for at least 14 days while arguments are made in court.

The government had requested reams of data from the five states, including the names and Social Security numbers of everyone who received benefits from some of the programmes since 2022.

The states argue that the effort is unconstitutional and is intended to go after Trump’s political adversaries rather than to stamp out fraud in government programmes — something the states say they already do.

Jessica Ranucci, a lawyer in the New York Attorney General’s office, said in the Friday hearing, which was conducted by telephone, that at least four of the states had already had money delayed after requesting it.

She said that if the states can’t get child care funds, there will be immediate uncertainty for providers and families who rely on the programmes.

A lawyer for the federal government, Kamika Shaw, said it was her understanding that the money had not stopped flowing to states.