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Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s administration would freeze federal child care funding nationwide until “states prove they are being spent legitimately.”
Nixon spoke to ABC News following Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill’s announcement on Tuesday that the administration had frozen all child care payments to Minnesota in light of allegations of massive fraud in the state’s daycare centers.
Nixon expanded on O’Neill’s announcement, announcing that the freeze would apply to all states. He said that states who receive funding that are “not suspected of fraudulent activity” will now be required to send HHS their “administrative data” for review.
States that are “suspected of fraudulent activity” – like Minnesota– will now have to provide HHS with additional records, including “attendance records, licensing, inspection and monitoring reports, complaints and investigations.”
“It’s the onus of the state to make sure that these funds, these federal dollars, taxpayer dollars, are being used for legitimate purposes,” Nixon said.
O’Neill noted the shift in policy in an addition to his Tuesday statement announcing Minnesota’s funding freeze.
“Funds will be released only when states prove they are being spent legitimately,” he wrote.
The administration’s move comes after recent scrutiny on Minnesota brought on by influencer Nick Shirley, who accused Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) of child-care fraud in a video investigation of Minnesota daycares.
The 42-minute video posted to X went viral and showed Shirley and his crew visiting multiple Minnesota child-care centers on a weekday only to find them nonoperational, per allegations made in the segment. Shirley’s video was lauded by many on the right, including Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk.
O’Neill cited Shirley’s video directly in the HHS statement, writing that the agency was taking steps to address “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country.”
“[HHS Assistant Secretary] Alex Adams and I have identified the individuals in @nickshirleyy’s excellent work. I have demanded from @GovTimWalz a comprehensive audit of these centers,” he wrote.
Walz responded in a post to X, accusing Trump of “politicizing the issue.”
“This is Trump’s long game,” Walz wrote. “We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue – but this has been his plan all along. He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans.”
