{"id":92763,"date":"2026-01-07T20:27:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T20:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/92763\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T20:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T20:27:07","slug":"mamdani-slams-trump-freeze-on-child-care-funding-as-nyc-braces-for-potential-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/92763\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani slams Trump freeze on child care funding as NYC braces for potential cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mayor Mamdani on Wednesday slammed the Trump administration\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/06\/us\/politics\/child-care-funding-cuts-trump.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pause on federal child care and family assistance grants<\/a> as a \u201ccruel decision that plays politics with children\u2019s futures,\u201d throwing his support behind a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crainsnewyork.com\/health-pulse\/hochul-threatens-sue-trump-administration-if-it-cuts-tanf-child-care-funds\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">threat by Gov. Hochul to sue over the frozen funds<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Health Department announced Tuesday night it froze $10 billion in funding for child care subsidies and cash support for low-income families in New York and four other Democrat-led states, pointing to what it called \u201cfraud concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Access to the funds, health officials said, would stay restricted pending further review.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on how long that review takes, the funding freeze could jeopardize programs that serve New York\u2019s neediest families and force daycare centers to shutter, just as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2025\/12\/16\/nyers-support-boosting-taxes-on-the-wealthy-to-pay-for-free-child-care-poll\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mamdani looks to expand universal child care<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the decision that was made was a cruel decision that plays politics with children\u2019s futures here in New York City,\u201d Mamdani, at an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2026\/01\/07\/mamdani-appoints-christine-clarke-new-head-nyc-commission-human-rights\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">unrelated appointment announcement<\/a> in Jackson Heights, Queens. \u201cAnd I appreciated what the governor shared yesterday, which was her confidence of being able to win this lawsuit in court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last year, New York State received $638 million through the Child Care and Development Fund and $467 million via a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families transfer to child care \u2014 for a total of $1.1 billion statewide. Both federal programs were hit by the freeze.<\/p>\n<p>New York City received an estimated $676 million of federal funding for child care\u00a0passed through the state, according to the Administration for Children\u2019s Services \u2014 though a breakdown by federal program was not immediately available.<\/p>\n<p>The funding freeze appeared to come in response to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/12\/30\/us\/politics\/hhs-minnesota-funds-day-care-fraud.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fraud allegations involving daycare centers in Minnesota<\/a>. The Trump administration has not provided evidence of any fraud in New York.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a responsibility to protect taxpayer dollars and ensure these programs serve the families they were created to help,\u201d Alex Adams, the assistant secretary for Children and Families at the U.S. Health Department, said in a statement Tuesday night. \u201cWhen there are credible concerns about fraud or misuse, we will act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani, despite the fiscal headwinds, insisted he plans to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/2025\/10\/14\/hochul-says-she-and-mamdani-are-aligned-on-universal-childcare-but-at-odds-over-funding\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">forge ahead with his promised child care expansion<\/a>, citing a cost of inaction that he estimated was $23 billion in lost economic activity per year. The mayor said he has yet to speak with the president directly about the funding freeze, though he did not rule out doing so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will continue not only to protect the funding that is being provided to New Yorkers across the city, but also to advance our agenda of universal child care,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere will continue to be conversations that I have directly with President Trump, and they will always come back to the needs of New Yorkers, and how to make this a city that they can afford. Child care is one of those critical issues.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Mamdani on Wednesday slammed the Trump administration\u2019s pause on federal child care and family assistance grants as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[67,85,267,9,24,264,12,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-92763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-education","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}