Illinois Attorney General Raoul Sues to Restore Childcare Funding

CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today filed a lawsuit with the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Minnesota and New York challenging the Trump administration’s illegal attempt to freeze $10 billion in federal funding that provides critical support for children and families.

“At a time when families are struggling with basic costs of living, the Trump administration’s arbitrary move to withhold this funding is particularly callous,” Raoul said. “Congress enacted this critical funding to support families and help working parents access child care, and the president does not have the authority to withhold it in this way. This move comes with zero justification, and in the administration’s own words, targets only Democrat-led states. This unlawful action will hurt families and harm state economies. I am filing this lawsuit today to stop it.”

Raoul and the attorneys general are seeking a court order to immediately stop the freeze and make sure families continue to receive the aid they need.

“Our commitment to children, their families, and their care givers and educators is unwavering. We will not shrink in the face of yet another attempt by the Trump Administration to unravel human services and the social safety net. We thank Attorney General Kwame Raoul for once again stepping in to protect the well-being of those who most depend on the support we provide,” said Dulce M. Quintero, Illinois Department of Human Services Secretary.

On Jan. 6, the Trump administration sent boilerplate letters to Illinois purporting to immediately freeze federal funds under the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) programs. Other plaintiff states received similar letters from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The letters demand that – within two weeks – Illinois turn over “the entire universe” of documents related to the use of these funds, including the personally identifying information of millions of residents, to potentially stop the freeze. Raoul’s lawsuit asserts that this is an impossible task on an impossible timeline and that the administration is fully aware of that. The complaint argues that the administration is engaging in a fishing expedition to attempt to find a rationale for withholding the funds after the fact, when the real motivation is targeting the president’s perceived political enemies.

The administration’s action threatens about $1 billion in federal funding for Illinois, going to Illinois families and service providers. These funds give low-income families access to child care, allowing members of those families to work or go to school. Additionally, the funds provide access to after-school and summer programming, which also supports children’s growth and allows parents to work. In Illinois, there are currently over 150,000 children who receive child care supported by these funds.

The funding is also used to provide temporary cash assistance to families in need and fund programs that help families achieve or maintain economic self-sufficiency, and that address neglect, abuse or exploitation of children and vulnerable adults.

Raoul and the attorneys general assert that even a temporary disruption to the funding would have devastating consequences for families, the economy and their states. The attorneys general argue that the freeze is an unlawful overreach of executive power that violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

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