Merkley Joins Senate Probe of Trump’s Cuts to Child Care for Rural Families

"Trump vowed to lower costs for Americans, yet his administration's actions…make this [child care crisis] worse."

Washington, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley joined a group of Senators in announcing a new investigation into how the Trump Administration's cuts to affordable child care programs are affecting rural families. The Senators pressed the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration of Children and Families (ACF) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide answers about the threats to child care programs in rural communities amid staffing and funding cuts to the agencies.

"Families across the country are being forced to choose whether to scale back work, forgo essential items, or break the bank to access and afford child care. The Trump administration's dangerous cuts to the agencies whose programs make child care more accessible and affordable only make this situation worse," wrote Merkley and the other Senators in a letter to the administration.

Child care has become "one of the biggest expenses families face," forcing parents-especially mothers-to reduce their working hours or leave the workforce entirely. This problem has an especially tough impact on families in rural areas, where they spend even more of their income on child care and where child care is even harder to find. Recent polling indicates that one in five rural families are "having trouble finding work, are cutting back on basic necessities, and are putting off growing their families due to a lack of affordable options that meet their family's needs."

Over the last year, the Trump administration has attacked child care programs and raised even more uncertainty for families, including by:

• Rescinding a Biden-era rule that improved child care providers' financial stability while lowering costs for families;
• Attempting to freeze, with no justification, $2.4 billion in Child Care and Development Fund funding in five states;
• Holding Head Start funding hostage as a way to force grantees to comply with onerous and vague new regulations;
• Closing half of the field offices for ACF, which administers Head Start, and laying off 500 of its employees (about 30-40 percent of the agency);
• Slashing over $1 billion for food assistance programs for rural schools and child care programs to buy local food from farmers; and
• Draining the USDA Rural Development (USDA RD) field offices of local employees who know their communities best.

Polling conducted since President Trump took office indicates rural Americans want "federal action," specifically in the form of increasing funding that expands "options for affordable, quality child care."

"The Trump administration has done the exact opposite," wrote the Senators.

"Trump vowed to lower costs for Americans, yet his administration's actions disregard "one of the biggest expenses families face"-child care-and the resources needed to alleviate the country's ongoing child care crisis," the lawmakers concluded.

The Senators requested the USDA provide, by February 16, 2026, details of how staffing cuts have affected rural child care programs, funding changes to rural child care programs, an analysis of how the government shutdown affected rural child care programs, and an assessment of the state of the child care crisis in rural communities.

This letter was led by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA). In addition to Merkley, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and Alex Padilla (D-CA).

Full text of the letter is available by clicking HERE.

###