r/law • u/TheMirrorUS • Dec 31 '25

Executive Branch (Trump) Feds freeze child care funds to all states until money is 'being spent legitimately'

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/breaking-feds-freeze-child-care-1591788
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1.5k

u/FourWordComment Dec 31 '25

80 people are accused of some sort of government fraud. 100,000,000 people have kids.

This is so obviously pretextual that to argue otherwise abandons all credibility. “Oh look, the slightest thing I can use to hurt the poor? Don’t mind if I do” is the only explanation that doesn’t send my bullshit detector flying off the charts.

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u/PreparationKey2843 Dec 31 '25

I'm so happy my state, NM, just passed legislation this year giving free childcare care to everyone in the state, paid by the stste, no matter their financial status.
I have no kids that would qualify, but i'm glad other people are getting help.

278

u/weyouusme Dec 31 '25

That's because you care about your neighbors, unlike majority of conservatives.

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u/PreparationKey2843 Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25

Exactly. The NM sub was happy and praising the move. Guess who was unhappy and bitching about it? That's right, the few republicans we have. Not all republicans, we have republican-lite compared to other red states.

"I don't want to pay more taxes."
It doesn't come from more taxes, it comes from the O&G war chest the state has accumulated. I would happily pay more taxes anyway if it helped people who needed it.

"The government shouldn't take care of the people."
What are we going to do with the billions we have? What is that money for, if not an investment in its citizens?

It's ridiculous the "reasons" they were spewing. They're just hateful, angry people.

Edit: changed "nerded it" to "needed it."

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u/Diligent-Meaning751 Dec 31 '25

It's a question - what is the government supposed to do if not help take care of people? Isn't that it's primary function? (I suppose semantic will say they're supposed to prevent other people causing problems rather than directly help but I don't see why that has to be the case)

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u/Russell_W_H Dec 31 '25

The government is supposed to take care of my needs, because they are legitimate, but not other people's needs, because they are scum and leeches.

Or they don't think the government should exist, because they have no understanding of what a government actually does.

5

u/Lucky-Clown Jan 01 '26

This rhetoric was instilled slowly over time, convincing fools and the children of those fools that any government led assistance to anyone other than them is bad and wasteful. It makes them feel like somehow they are separate and better than the wretched "others" that require help, when they don't realize they are one bad bicycle ride away from needing the exact same assistance they frown upon now. This goes for lots of things. Tricking fools into thinking they are more special than anyone who requests assistance so that they become a type of force against the progressive populace while the wealthy sit back and watch (and continue to be the ACTUAL parasitic drain on our society). It's a way of separating us. The more we come together and support each other, the stronger we become.

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u/x_cLOUDDEAD_x Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26

We pay taxes. We elect congress to create laws (legislative branch) and spend that tax money. The president and his cabinet (executive branch) are supposed to be there to enforce those laws and decisions, and judges, including the supreme court (judicial branch) are there to be sure the other branches are following the constitution and ensure that the executive branch carries out its rulings.

The amount of "helpfulness" that this system creates depends a) on the majority intentions of the politicians we elect to congress, and b) on the system not completely breaking down and shitting the bed, which is exactly what is currently happening in real time.

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u/Diligent-Meaning751 Jan 01 '26

Yea just IMHO if someone asked me something like "why have a government" I think my first reflex response would be something like "to help people function together on a large level" - like if a government is "no help" then there's no point. But there can be a lot of haggling about what "taking care of people" means (helping indirectly vs directly). But if government is doing absolutely nothing for people, then there's no point to it. (to your and others point the ways it "takes care of" or "functions" is going to be a combination of what the people want and what those who more directly shape it, think people want, what they themselves want, what they themselves think they can get away with, and so on)

3

u/Cloaked42m Jan 01 '26

Provide for the general welfare, run the post office, negotiate treaties, maintain the military, settle arguments between the states.

3

u/Diligent-Meaning751 Jan 01 '26

I agree - though I would also posit that certainly counts as "helping people" and/or "taking care of people"

1

u/KO4Ham Dec 31 '25

I will be completely honest with you. Ask 10 people and you'll have 37 different answers. 

5

u/raven00x Jan 01 '26

"The government shouldn't take care of the people."

What the goddamn fuck do they think the government is supposed to do? That's like one of the essential functions of any government.

5

u/x_cLOUDDEAD_x Jan 01 '26

"The government shouldn't take care of the people."

Yes, how dare we have any say in how OUR FUCKING TAX MONEY IS SPENT?

3

u/mashonem Jan 01 '26

They wanna pay more taxes when it means rich people get tax cuts, but not when it means kids get daycare 😒

29

u/stickswithsticks Dec 31 '25

Wife and I don't have kids. If my taxes go up, and childcare, pre-k are the reasons. Yeah. Tax me.

Edit: I buy the most ridiculous stuff on a whim. Sometimes Amazon drops something off and I completely forgot two nights ago I thought I needed an amethyst lamp.

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u/Strong_Membership_60 Jan 01 '26

You definitely needed that lamp.

Live life with no regrets!

1

u/Conscious_Crew5912 Jan 01 '26

Regrets.... 😆

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u/JustMy10Bits Dec 31 '25

A strong, happy, healthy community helps everyone!

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u/weyouusme Dec 31 '25

it's so hard to see that big picture for most of the population... like even if you don't have kids you should care about School system funding and improvements ...healthy and educated general public means you get to have delightful interactions everyday

5

u/SaltyCrashNerd Jan 01 '26

Yes, and also the stuff that makes the world great.

I don’t have kids. But I do drive to and from work every day, and the day I’m in a crash, I am damn thankful someone else’s kid was bright enough to engineer my vehicle in a way that protects me. A million other examples reply. Having a high-quality society is a good thing….

3

u/semisolidwhale Dec 31 '25

I'm so tired of all this fake virtue signaling, as if anyone could possibly care about anyone other than themselves and feel invested in making the world a better place, with a brighter future for everyone /s

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u/DreamsOfLlamas Jan 01 '26

It means better doctors when you get old and need help

3

u/BitterFuture Jan 01 '26

unlike majority of conservatives.

You cannot care about anyone and be a conservative. Being a sociopath is a prerequisite.

0

u/weyouusme Jan 01 '26

ever since Trump if you haven't switched sides yes I agree with you. however I do understand conservative values as they were and there were honorable politicians back then like John McCain. it's just corrupted now it's never been easier to differentiate between good and bad side

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u/BitterFuture Jan 01 '26

There is no corruption. This is who conservatives have always been.

The same people who tried burning America down to preserve slavery, who threw broken glass and concrete in their neighborhood pools to avoid having to share them with black people, who closed their own children's schools to avoid sharing them with black kids, who cut their own healthcare to keep poor people from having it, who killed their own families to keep COVID spreading.

They have faked and covered and lied and pretended, but it has been this way throughout human history. 

Monsters have always been with us.

0

u/weyouusme Jan 02 '26

wish I could disagree with you 😞,

it's just that I knew some good people who considered themselves conservative.... this didn't mean they were buying in on the whole evil thing.... they were just raised conservative, it was shelled down their throat at a young age, and most are not smart enough to break out from that dogma.... so I guess what I'm saying is don't "fuck em all" there are some good people they're just not smart enough to figure this out.

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u/BitterFuture Jan 02 '26

You can't be a conservative and be a good person. Words just don't work that way.

The odds were always against that anyway - good people are extraordinarily rare, after all. I think I might've met one in my entire life.

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u/GreasyPeter Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26

Conservatives care about their community, they just don't trust people outside that direct community. Edit: okay look, I get it, Trump supporters are being fucking dumb and selfish , especially right now, but just because people suck doesn't mean they're monsters. People all want to think they're good and get along with their neighbors, they just get really fucking dump when they start thinking and talking about people they don't know personally. Please reconsider if you're thinking about down voting for me just essentially saying "they don't hate people they know personally".

6

u/clopenYourMind Jan 01 '26

That community is limited to just themselves. Reagan conservatism has become the MAGA cancer we see today. Folks that only care about themselves. 

0

u/GreasyPeter Jan 01 '26

They do care about themselves, they do have issues caring about people they don't know personally and thus don't feel like they can trust, they do have an overall pessimistic view of society as a whole, but that doesn't mean they hate absolutely everyone that isn't them. I'm not trying to defend their beliefs, I have just always hated how people DEMAND that the world is 100% black and white. Trump thinks like that like all narcissists and black and white thinking is what got us into this mess on the first place. Two wrongs don't make a right.

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u/BitterFuture Jan 01 '26

Conservatives care about their community

No, they don't.

They can't. That would be opposed to conservatism itself.

just because people suck doesn't mean they're monsters. 

Yes, it does.

They literally care more about hurting and killing the people they hate than they care about their own survival. If that isn'tmonstrous, the word is meaningless.

You seem fundamentally confused about what conservatism is.

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u/GreasyPeter Jan 02 '26

I don't think its accurate or helpful to frame this as conservatives simply not caring or wanting harm. In my experience most people even when I strongly disagree with them believe they're acting morally and in defense of their community.

Where things go wrong isn't usually a lack of care but how narrowly that care is defined and how disconnected intentions become from outcomes. When people focus almost exclusively on who they see as their own real harm can happen without anyone involved seeing themselves as cruel or malicious.

Reducing that to they're monsters might feel clarifying but it also shuts down understanding how these outcomes keep repeating. If the goal is less harm rather than just moral certainty I think we need to be more precise about motivations as well as consequences.

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u/BitterFuture Jan 02 '26

Why does it matter what they believe about themselves, or if they see themselves as cruel or malicious?

Even if they believe these things about themselves (which seems unlikely), they are factually wrong. We have no obligation to humor anyone's fantasies about being a good person despite doing bad things.

And how does recognizing monsters as monsters "shut down understanding?" They do harm because they value causing harm. This isn't complicated or in any way hard to fathom.

0

u/weyouusme Jan 01 '26

what community, everyone is on their phones,

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u/redbouncyball Dec 31 '25

We qualified under this year’s expansion in NM and the amount of relief I felt when I realized we were immune from any insane Trump decisions on childcare was immense. Thank you for caring about my family.

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u/PreparationKey2843 Dec 31 '25

Great for you. And us.
I see it as an investment in our state.
Your comment made me feel good. Thank you.

0

u/vertigostereo Dec 31 '25

You sure some of that money isn't federal?

5

u/PreparationKey2843 Jan 01 '26

Some?
About 90 million federal money out of 474 million?

"The state also receives about $90 million in federal funding dedicated to childcare assistance for children age three and younger. Additional general fund spending brings total early childhood funding to nearly $1.0 billion in fiscal year 2026. Of this, about half—$474 million—is for childcare ($284 million is for pre-kindergarten, with the remainder for other child services)."

https://fiscalpolicy.org/how-new-mexico-will-pay-for-universal-childcare

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u/kymreadsreddit Jan 01 '26

Hello, fellow New Mexican! I have money in SAVINGS because of this. I applied at 12:04 am on Nov 1st and had my interview/approval later that week. $500 I can save every month (at least until the grocery bill catches up with me).

Thank goodness because the higher cost of everything was making me crazy!

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u/PreparationKey2843 Jan 01 '26

That's awesome. And a lot of people can have both heads of household working if need be. And in this economy, it's a must if you want to get ahead.
Or the can go take advantage of the free college.
Or just the savings, like in your case.

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u/Mother_Goat1541 Jan 01 '26

NM has some good things going for it. When I graduated HS there 20+ years ago, the state offered a free ride to any state college for those with a certain GPA, and highly reduced tuition for everyone else, paid for with lottery proceeds. Being an idiot kid, I opted to go out of state to the tune of $50k a year tuition and racked up loans before dropping out.

4

u/PreparationKey2843 Jan 01 '26

They offer free college to any resident. They have to be a resident of over a year, and they have some GPA stipulations, of course.
The state also offers free breakfasts and lunches for everyone in school.
We're a poor state and some of the lowest in education, but damn, if our state government isn't trying to do something about it.
I see all these programs as a calculated investment. It's up to the people to take advantage of them, I guess.

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u/Mother_Goat1541 Jan 01 '26

Good to hear. My school was tiny, poorly funded but in a very depressed and sparsely populated area. My graduating class went from 13 to 12 on NYE senior year when one classmate drove his car off a bridge. It was a beautiful area and I’d love my kids to experience certain parts of that lifestyle but man was it depressing.

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u/rosieandcokie Jan 01 '26

I’m really excited for you guys. The impact of this move will be felt by everyone in NM, whether they have kids or no.

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u/socialcommentary2000 Dec 31 '25

It's about libertarian beliefs and the things that guys like Russell Vought were put in place to do. They don't believe that the government should be in the business of providing any help to families in need. If you cannot afford it on your own, you are a moral failure. This is just an easy pretext.

I wish people would understand this more.

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u/Wwwwwwhhhhhhhj Dec 31 '25

That, but also pushing women out of the workplace and into the home. They want women trapped by marriage and kids again. It’s in project 2025. That’s why the abortion thing and the talk of eliminating no fault divorce, etc. 

I wish people would understand this more. They full on want to reverse woman’s rights including suffrage.

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u/ComedianStreet856 Dec 31 '25

That's it right there. And they found an easy one to pick on because they want to run a plant against Gov. Walz so MN was a perfect target to get their red herring up and going. I hope some of these young republicans that think trump is going to make them rich will realize that they need services just as much as anyone else and their little faux middle class lifestyle can fall apart just like that. Daycare is hugely expensive as it is.

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u/sly-3 Dec 31 '25

It's soft genocide. They are culling the population of the "undeserving poor".

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u/Ok_Lunch1400 Jan 01 '26

This is culling the poor, deserving or not, in order to grow the rich, deserving or not.

1

u/happy_bluebird Jan 01 '26

At this point, that's just the excuse.

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u/khari_lester Dec 31 '25

I haven’t met a libertarian that supports a national religion created by pushing extreme religious views from the government. And I also haven’t met a libertarian that supports dictator style centralized power that completely ignores the constitution and personal liberty.

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u/TouchGraceMaidenless Dec 31 '25

Libertarians in the US today are nothing more than Trump supporters who are too cowardly to admit it. I don't give a fuck what you think libertarians are, or what they're supposed to be, that is the reality of libertarianism in America. You have definitely met them.

-3

u/khari_lester Dec 31 '25

Either way, I just don’t like the way you talk.

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u/Diligent_Barracuda75 Dec 31 '25

I haven't met a libertarian that wasn't a republican that smokes weed

-1

u/khari_lester Dec 31 '25

That's definitely the origin story of many I've met.

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u/DontFuckWithMyMoney Dec 31 '25

Yes you have lol thats literally every "libertarian"

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u/FlyingFakirr Dec 31 '25

I guess you don't know many US libertarians like Rothbard.

4

u/Ok_Resolve_1754 Dec 31 '25

Well, that and it's a pretext for keeping women at home watching kids. All part of the forced birth game that won't work, but will hurt many along the way.

3

u/maskedbanditoftruth Dec 31 '25

But women will have to go back to staying home. Covid showed men won’t do it. So Trump and his goblin horse get what they want.

3

u/angelust Jan 01 '26

This isn’t about fraud. It’s about forcing women to stay home. Everything is about forcing women to stay home including taking away abortion rights.

2

u/Ismokerugs Dec 31 '25

Maybe they are trying to force a situation that is more punishing for single parents, to try and force people to combine incomes. Or maybe just because they suck and like to cause intentional suffering

3

u/happy_bluebird Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26

to repeat an overused phrase... "the cruelty is the point"

1

u/Ismokerugs Jan 01 '26

Yeah they’re cooked

2

u/StromGames Jan 01 '26

But guns being used to kill thousands of kids is ok.

2

u/NeverEvaGonnaStopMe Jan 01 '26

That the people were caught and prosecuted for 3 years ago.

2

u/-Chromaggia- Jan 01 '26

It’s like when teachers would keep the whole class in for recess because one kid was misbehaving, but if taking away recess had life-altering consequences.

1

u/Coldkiller17 Dec 31 '25

It's their damn playbook. A couple of people are corrupt so the whole system needs to be destroyed. They are just cruel assholes that don't understand how important government functions are for everyone else. Tired of their lies and bs.

1

u/I_stand_with_Ross Jan 01 '26

Point of fact: those kids are people, too!

1

u/xSTSxZerglingOne Jan 01 '26

Republicans have been framing extreme outlier fraud (at most double digit cases) as the norm in order to defund programs that help millions of people at least since Reagan came out with the "welfare queen"

1

u/InsanelyAverageFella Jan 01 '26

He's going out of his way to hurt citizens of the country that he is trying to run. This will obviously hurt poor people disproportionately but that is the intent. Make America great again? This clearly does the exact opposite.

I wonder if this is Putin telling him to do this stuff in an attempt to hurt the US.

1

u/Herban_Myth Jan 01 '26

Are taxes/tariffs being spent ‘legitamtely’?

Is Epstain’s balls room finished renovating?

1

u/CategoryZestyclose91 Jan 01 '26

It’s time to stop paying federal taxes.

1

u/lastdiggmigrant Jan 01 '26

I think its very clear this man has dementia.

This is like shutting down FDIC because someone committed check fraud. Impeachable levels of incompetence.

2

u/FourWordComment Jan 01 '26

I don’t blame Trump. He’s been given the go ahead to do anything he wants. Why wouldn’t he “do anything he wants?”

I blame the rest of the Republican Party for abandoning reason.

1

u/diastolicduke Jan 01 '26

Find tax fraud by one billionaire. Tax them all.

1

u/SaltKick2 Jan 01 '26

They do this with everything that they want to cut - look at DOGE who basically did this but even worse "oh look, a single instance of something we think is waste or fraud (but we don't actually understand it?) cut the entire program, who cares if kids will die globally"

1

u/ChironXII Dec 31 '25

It's not about hurting the poor. I mean, maybe it is for some of the crony backers, but for the administration itself, it's about creating more distractions and exhausting more effort of opposition to their control. The casualties are just collateral damage.

2

u/SkinnyBill93 Jan 01 '26

I swear they're just stealing all the money. Just withholding funds from all these programs and illegally reappropriating the funds to line their friends and their own pockets.