WASHINGTON – The Trump Administration announced this week that it’s halting childcare funds to Minnesota. The administration is demanding an audit of several daycare centers after numerous fraud schemes involving government programs have arisen in recent years.
Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill shared on X that the decision is in response to “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz responded to the move on X, reassuring that fraudsters are an important issue that the state has spent much time cracking down on. Moreover, the governor said the move is part of “Trump’s long game.”
“He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans,” Walz wrote.
The announcement arrives a day after U.S. Homeland Security officials entered Minneapolis. The officials began conducting a fraud investigation, going to unidentified businesses and interrogating employees.
“We have turned off the money spigot, and we are finding the fraud,” O’Neill said.
Additionally, O’Neill has demanded that Walz provide an audit of the centers that includes licenses, inspections, complaints, and attendance records.
O’Neill also said that payments throughout the U.S. provided by the Administration for Children and Families will now require “justification and a receipt or photo evidence” before funds are sent.
The Administration for Children and Families is an agency within the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. According to Assistant Secretary Alex Adams, the agency grants $185 million in childcare funds annually to Minnesota.
“That money should be helping 19,000 American children, including toddlers and infants. Any dollar stolen by fraudsters is stolen from those children.” Adams said in the video posted on X.
Walz previously said that an audit due by late January should provide more clarity to the extent of the fraud.
Walz continues to affirm that his administration is taking aggressive action to prevent further fraud.
