Washington, D.C. — Today, at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on fraud in child care programs, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)—a former chair and senior member of the HELP Committee—slammed the Trump administration for freezing child care and social services funding for entire states in a politically motivated attack on blue states instead of focusing on serious efforts to root out actual fraud and to fix the child care crisis. She also emphasized how urgent the child care crisis is, and instead of withholding critical funds and holding sham hearings, Congress should invest in and strengthen the child care system to expand access to affordable, high quality child care, and stabilize the child care workforce.
In opening comments, Senator Muray said:
“I have got to say no one wants our child care system to work more than me as a former preschool teacher. And if my colleagues know anything about me—they know that this is one of my top priorities in really working to solve the child care crisis that we do have in America. And it is a crisis—we do not have enough providers, they are not paid a living wage, they are barely keeping their doors open, and parents can’t hardly find—let [alone] afford—child care today. So, we have to solve that, and I’d love to have a hearing about that specific framework Mr. Chairman.
“But if we do want to solve the child care crisis, that does mean we are going to have to make some very serious federal investments, and we are going to have to make the most of those investments—we can’t afford to have this work delayed or derailed by fraud. So let me be unequivocal here: I will always champion transparency and accountability. I want high-quality programs—not for-profit money grabs. But accountability has to be a tool to bolster child care, not a ruse to distract from solutions, or a pretext to target programs that families do rely on.
“Serious oversight involves prosecuting specific cases based on solid evidence, like the Biden Administration did, not issuing a blanket freeze on funding for entire states based on conspiracies or politics, like Trump has done.
“Apparently, if some rightwing YouTube account posts a video about fraud, that means that the Trump administration is going to jump to attention and block child care funding for an entire state! That is wrong. We need to get real for a second: We can’t just assume a child care center is committing fraud because they won’t let any random person show up, shout with a camera, come in and demand to ‘see the kids.’ Do we really want child care centers to let in any weirdo if they yell loud enough? Of course not! That is very dangerous.
“Still, President Trump is treating conspiracy like gospel today. And blind accusations are not accountability, witch hunts are not oversight. Instead of more accountability, what we are seeing is more harassment of child care providers—as self-appointed vigilantes, they show up with cameras, they bang on the door, they peep through the windows, and demand to see kids. That, to me, is deeply alarming.
“We do need accountability, absolutely—but that goes for everyone, including the President, and everyone who is fanning the flames of conspiracy.”
[TRUMP FREEZING CHILD CARE FUNDING]
Senator Murray began her questioning by highlighting how the Trump administration haphazardly frozen child care funding for Democratic states—and then been blocked by the courts, “Mr. Wilde, let me start with you, you have overseen child care and Head Start programs at both the state and federal level. You understand the oversight tools built into our current law, including audits, monitoring, and the ability to recover misspent funds. Based on your experience, is a state-wide funding freeze necessary to evaluate client claims of fraud?”
Mr. Wilde responded, “Thank you Senator Murray and thank you for your commitment and service for Head Start which I super appreciate. I don’t think it makes sense to have a state wide freeze, I think it punishes the vast, vast majority of providers who are absolutely committed to children and doing the right thing every day. I think program integrity is crucial, but it should be done in a way that is focused and targeted, and doesn’t affect all providers. I’d say when you shut down payments, three different groups are hurt. The first is low income working parents whose centers might be closed and thus they cannot work. The second is the childcare providers themselves. In my experience, child care providers when something like this happens, they first stop paying themselves but then—”
“Absolutely, but to cut back in, I want to get on because I have a few seconds. But I do want to hear from each of our witnesses,” Senator Murray interjected.
[FRAUD INVESTIGATIONS]
Senator Murray continued her questioning by addressing the Trump administration fueling conspiracy theorists and investigating “fraud” at child care centers based on outrageous videos posted on YouTube without any evidence, and asking each witness, “Have you ever let in an unannounced stranger into one of your child care centers? Someone who claims they’re an independent journalist or holding an iPhone or asking to see proof of kids, any one of you, yes or no?”
Mr. Wilde responded, “No.”
Dr. Polito replied, “No.”
Ms. Denson answered, “No, and we would call authorities right away.”
“Of course not. No one would. That’s not a serious or legitimate way to uncover fraud, it is a serious way to put our children into harm’s way! If someone had come knocking on my preschool classroom door when I was teaching to try and record my kids, I would have called the police. So we have got to be real, Mr. Chairman, we want to make sure there is no fraud, but we should not draft child care policy based off a right-wing YouTube so-called ‘investigation.’ And we shouldn’t put our children in jeopardy and we should not put our states in jeopardy over these wild claims that we are hearing. Thank you,” Senator Murray concluded.
As President Trump and Republicans in Congress choose to spend trillions on new tax cuts for billionaires and the biggest corporations, kick Americans off their health care, and raise costs on everyday essentials for working families, Senator Murray is leading Democrats in Congress to continue their push to help working people make ends meet—including by tackling the child care crisis. In the FY26 appropriations bills Senator Murray secured $8.8 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program (CCDBG)—an $85 million or increase over fiscal year 2025—and $12.36 billion for Head Start, an $85 million increase over last year’s funding level. Sustained annual increases of federal investments in child care and Head Start are critical in tackling the child care crisis and helping to ensure more families can find and afford the quality, affordable child care and early childhood education options they need. Senator Murray also protected funding for Preschool Development Grants, which President Trump and House Republicans pushed to eliminate.
Senator Murray is Congress’ top advocate for child care, and her Child Care for Working Families Act would tackle the child care crisis head-on: ensuring families can afford the child care they need, expanding access to more high-quality options, stabilizing the child care sector, and helping ensure child care workers taking care of our nation’s kids are paid livable wages. The legislation will also dramatically expand access to pre-K, and support full-day, full-year Head Start programs and increased wages for Head Start workers. Under the legislation, which Senator Murray has introduced every Congress since 2017, the typical family in America will pay no more than $15 a day for child care—with many families paying nothing at all—and no eligible family will pay more than 7% of their income on child care.
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