What’s Breaking Through About Politically Motivated Cuts to Social Services

Since the beginning of the year, the Trump administration has attempted to withhold billions in congressionally appropriated money to certain states led by the president’s political opponents. The administration says it is investigating allegations of waste and abuse in social service programs, like childcare, housing, and healthcare. The impacted states are concerned that political motivations are driving cuts to essential programs that could devastate the wellbeing of their residents, including children, older people, and those in poor health.

President Trump has claimed without evidence that California, Maine, and Minnesota have allowed billions in social services funding to be misused. The president’s allegations are rooted in a viral video that contained unsubstantiated claims about misuse of funds in childcare facilities in Minnesota. Officials in states that have been targeted by Trump have argued they were already leading investigations into abuses of social services funding.
Abruptly freezing essential federal funding for these programs is not how these investigations should be conducted, state officials argue.

In February, Trump administration officials announced a pause in hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota until the state produces a plan to “clean up the systems.” In response, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz slammed the federal involvement, saying the state was focused on improving oversight. He also argued that the Trump administration’s actions were hypocritical, since the U.S. Department of Justice has gutted the state’s U.S. Attorney’s Office and hurt their ability to prosecute fraud.

On March 2, Minnesota sued the government over these abrupt cuts in funding.

Put simply, this is “a political attack,” Maine Gov. Janet Mills said in a February statement about cuts to funding for her state. She argued that the president is using these allegations not only to cut funding but “as a pretense to send ICE and other weaponized federal agents” into states run by officials who disagree with him politically. In the end, she said, it’s going to have “devastating consequences.”

Here are the messages that we found are resonating with Americans, based on States United research:

• These investigations and cuts are the latest in an effort by the Trump administration to strip states of resources that help working families.
  • The administration has gone after our public schools, our health care, our clean air, and now our social services that give hungry children food and vulnerable families a leg up.
• This is clearly not about fighting waste and abuse.
  • The president is using the power of the federal government for personal, political fights and hurting people in the process.
  • President Trump watched a debunked viral video of alleged fraud at a daycare center and is now claiming widespread fraud and cutting essential funding for children and families.
  • This a president who was convicted by the courts of felony fraud himself. He dismantled the part of the Justice Department that targets this kind of thing, and he’s only going after states led by his political opponents. Let’s take this for what it is: a dangerous stunt that defunds daycares.
  • Trump knows nothing about how states work, what’s best for the people in our state, or how daycares are run. But state leaders do. They know our state, our agencies, and our communities.
• This is the latest effort by the Trump administration to find an excuse to send ICE into our communities, threaten our neighbors, and create mayhem.
  • ICE has caused enough chaos and pain. This is not what states need right now.
• This is not how we do things in America.
  • There have been issues of misuse and abuse of social services since the country started giving pensions to soldiers after the Civil War. These abuses are regularly investigated and prosecuted. This isn’t new. What is new is the president’s irresponsible and cruel desire to go after our communities and cut services from the people who need it the most—all for political retribution.
  • This is not normal oversight by the federal government. The Trump administration is making unfounded claims to attack immigrants and dismantle our public services like childcare and meals that millions of American families rely on.
• This is a distraction.
  • This is an effort to change the subject from a string of damaging news for the president, like the Epstein files, the price of eggs, and rising health care premiums. While Americans demand answers, the president is manufacturing a crisis.