The Trump Administration’s federal funding freeze announcement left many agencies and organizations scrambling for information Tuesday, including those who work in child care.
While a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s freeze before it took effect, many organizations would like to see it scrapped altogether.
Early Tuesday, Head Start child care providers found the online system they use to access federal funding was down. By later in the afternoon it was back up again, and the federal Office of Management and Budget said Head Start funding would not be frozen.
“That’s just an example of the uncertainty across the country about what’s exactly happening and going on here," said Jen DeBell, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children.
She said her organization is keeping an eye on several programs.
“The concern is stopping funding or pausing funding for programs like the Child Care and Development Block Grant would have a huge impact on working families," DeBell said.
She said they want to see the funding freeze get rolled back.
“These are programs that if not for them, parents would not have access to child care, parents would not have access to a high quality preschool for their child," she said.
There are more than 90,000 children being served in Child Care Works, Pennsylvania's child care subsidy program, and 4,798 certified child care providers with children enrolled whose families receive the child care subsidy, according to Pennsylvania's Early Learning Dashboard.
The Trump administration says the pause in federal grants and other program funding would be temporary while the programs are reviewed. It includes a review of programs’ positions on issues such as abortion and gender.
"This temporary pause will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President’s priorities," the Office of Management and Budget memo says.
The administration also says federal assistance that goes directly to individuals would not be affected, including Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, student loans and scholarships.
The judge’s order pauses the freeze until Monday.
