STATEMENT FROM CONGRESSMAN JOE MORELLE ON FEDERAL CHILDCARE FUNDING FREEZE

(Washington, D.C.)—Today, Congressman Joe Morelle released the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decision to freeze certain federal childcare and family assistance funds in five states, including New York:

“At a time when families are already struggling under the weight of higher healthcare premiums, prescription drug costs, grocery prices, and housing costs, the Trump administration is knowingly and deliberately making the affordability crisis worse.

“By freezing federal childcare and family assistance funds, Donald Trump is using our children as pawns in a political stunt—but the damage ripples through entire families. Parents who depend on affordable, reliable childcare to work and support their loved ones are being cut off from care they cannot live without and forced into impossible, no-win choices. These actions are unlawful and cynically targeted at blue states simply because this administration thinks it can get away with it.

“Childcare is not a luxury—it is the backbone of family stability and a functioning economy. When parents lose childcare, they can’t work. When they can’t work, they lose income, critical benefits, and housing stability. This reckless disruption pushes vulnerable families toward unsafe or unstable care and threatens lasting harm to a child’s development.

“This is a continued assault on families, kids, and affordability. I am proud to be leading my colleagues from New York and the affected states in fighting back, and I will not stop until families get the support they deserve and our children are treated with the dignity and respect they are owed.”

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