This week on Thursday, January 8th, the Attorney General of New York, along with four other states, filed a joint lawsuit against the federal government in order to protect a total of $10 billion in funding for child care and assistance for vulnerable families.
According to the office of the New York State Attorney General, on January 5th and 6th, the Trump administration notified New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota that the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) would freeze funding for three key programs: the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), totaling around $10 billion. This funding was originally intended to assist low-income families with essential needs such as child care, housing, and food security.
The Attorneys General of the five states believe that freezing this funding will immediately “jeopardize” some of the most critical anti-poverty initiatives in each state, placing vulnerable families at risk.
“Weak and vulnerable families in our communities are once again bearing the brunt of this administration’s chaos and retaliatory actions,” said the New York State Attorney General in a statement. “After jeopardizing food assistance and healthcare, the government is now threatening to cut child care services and other crucial programs that parents rely on to support their families.”
Governor Cuomo also condemned the federal funding cuts in an interview with PIX11, revealing the lawsuit and strongly criticizing the slashing of allocations by the federal government.
“Donald Trump is basically declaring war on children,” Cuomo said. “They are using this opportunity to attack New Yorkers.”
In New York, the funding from the Department of Children and Family Services provides vital support to hundreds of thousands of families each year; the state receives over $2.4 billion annually through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, providing direct cash assistance to over 200,000 families statewide to help them with housing, food, and other basic necessities. In the 2025 funding year, New York received $638 million in funding from the Child Care Development Fund to provide child care services to low-income families.
Additionally, New York also received $93 million in Social Services Block Grant funding to support foster care, child care, and other critical social services to prevent the neglect, abuse, and exploitation of children and vulnerable adults.
The Attorney General stated that if this freeze on funding policy is implemented, it will have a “devastating” impact on families in New York.
The Attorney General’s alliance claims that despite the federal government’s letters to states indicating that the funds were frozen to prevent “potential” fraud, suggesting that Democratic states were using the money on illegal immigrants, the government failed to provide any evidence of fraud.
The AG alliance believes that the government’s disregard for the detailed legal requirements governing these programs violates the law and the Constitution; the government’s actions also ignore the legal regulations governing the administration of these programs, infringing on Congress’ spending power and the constitutional principle of separation of powers.
The AG alliance is seeking a court order to declare the freeze on funding illegal and to prevent its implementation.