Clay Masters

I mean, it could be really bad news for families with kids.

This applies to the Child Care and Development Fund, which provides monthly child care subsidies to low-income families.

Nationwide, approximately 1.4 million children and over 857,000 families per month received child care assistance in 2019.

Now, 2019, that's the latest information on the government website.

In Minnesota, where I am, 23,000 children use the child care assistance program each month.

Here's Maria Snyder, a St.

Paul child care director, at a press conference yesterday.

And a spokesman for Health and Human Services says the agency could unfreeze funding after state agencies provide certain quote-unquote administrative data.

The deputy secretary said that could include receipts and photo evidence.

Meanwhile, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says his office is exploring all legal options to ensure that critical child care services do not get abruptly slashed based on what he calls pretext and grandstanding.

Well, yeah, I mean, this is all definitely political, too.

Governor Walz announced he's running for a third term this new year, and this is the issue he is likely most vulnerable on.

He has a lot of Republican challengers, including Minnesota's Republican Speaker of the House, Lisa Damuth.

Damuth told reporters this week that her House caucus steered the YouTuber to the daycare sites in Minnesota.

In a statement after the child care funding freeze, a spokesman for Governor Walz said he's been combating fraud for years while the president has been letting fraudsters out of jail.

The statement goes on to say fraud is a serious issue, but this is a transparent attempt to politicize the issue, to hurt Minnesotans and defund government programs that help people.

So I don't expect this to quiet down anytime soon here in Minnesota in this election year where Republicans think they have a shot at the state's top job.

In fact, next week, the Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Government will hear from Republican state lawmakers here, and they have invited Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison to attend as well.

The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jim O'Neill, made the announcement on the social media platform X. He writes the step is in response to allegations of blatant fraud in Minnesota, and his agency has, quote, turned off the money spigot and are finding the fraud.

The announcement follows a viral video from a right-wing YouTuber that featured Minnesota daycare facilities that have been part of a state-administered child care program using federal money.