REP. DAVIS AND ILLINOIS DEMOCRATS DEMAND THAT TRUMP ADMINISTRATION COMPLY WITH FEDERAL LAW AND RELEASE $1 BILLION IN CHILD CARE AND SERVICES FUNDING

REP. DAVIS AND ILLINOIS DEMOCRATS DEMAND THAT TRUMP ADMINISTRATION COMPLY WITH FEDERAL LAW AND RELEASE $1 BILLION IN CHILD CARE AND SERVICES FUNDING

Washington, DC: Representative Danny K. Davis, Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Tammy Duckworth, and Representatives Jan Schakowsky, Mike Quigley, Bill Foster, Robin Kelly, Bradley Schneider, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Sean Casten, Chuy García, Lauren Underwood, Nikki Budzinski, Jonathan Jackson, Delia Ramirez, and Eric Sorenson sent a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Assistant Secretary of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) demanding that they comply with the law and immediately release the $1 billion in frozen federal funding for essential services that support hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans served by the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG).

"As the senior Democrat on the House Subcommittee with jurisdiction over child care, welfare, and social services funding, I know that HHS has no statutory or constitutional authority to prevent states from accessing these funds," said Davis. "The statutes governing these funds outline clear, specific processes for how to identify and sanction noncompliance, and the Administration followed none of them. I strongly support the Illinois lawsuit against ACF and HHS because it is fundamental to preventing the harm to children, families, the elderly, people with disabilities, community organizations, and businesses that will occur without the court's temporary restraining order."

The lawmakers wrote, "Under federal law, the State of Illinois is entitled to receive TANF, SSBG, and CCDF funding, and your letter provided no evidence of any failure on the part of the state. If HHS does have concerns, federal law provides a specific process in each program for it to bring concerns to the state's attention and give the state an opportunity to address them. Federal law outlines penalties if the issues are not resolved and describes in detail the data states must provide to HHS. However, HHS made no attempt to communicate with us or our state or to follow the law regarding alleged operational failures and is now demanding that the state provide them with individual, personally-identifiable information for our constituents that is not required by the law. We demand that you immediately release the funds Congress appropriated to Illinois children and families."

"Disruption to this funding will have substantial, immediate, and destructive consequences to Illinois children, families, businesses, and communities," they continued. "Withholding both CCDF and TANF funding will cripple child care for low-income families in Illinois, threaten child protection services, and undermine the economic well-being of children and families…In addition to the substantial harm inflicted on vulnerable Illinoisans by halting funds for these three programs, the ACF's action will devastate several hundred nonprofits and small businesses in our state."

"Government has a responsibility to protect its citizens while ensuring appropriate use of federal funds," the lawmakers closed. "However, halting all federal CCDF, SSBG, and TANF funds to the State of Illinois without any legitimate basis will dangerously cut child care, child welfare, and health and well-being services, making the lives of children and families worse, not better. We expect that you quickly will release the funding our state is entitled to so that hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans do not suffer."

The lawmakers' full letter to Secretary Kennedy and Assistant Secretary Adams is available HERE