The United States federal government has moved to freeze £7.39 billion ($10.6 billion) in childcare and social services funding to five Democratic-led states amid federal claims of fraud and improper benefit distribution.
In a decisive policy shift, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a suspension of major funding streams, including the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Social Services Block Grant, that support child care, low-income assistance and other social programmes in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York.
