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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION | ||||||
| 2 | WHEREAS, On January 6, 2026, President Donald Trump's | ||||||
| 3 | Department of Health and Human Services announced a unilateral | ||||||
| 4 | suspension of $10 billion in childcare, citing allegations of | ||||||
| 5 | wrongdoing in Minnesota to justify a freeze on funds for | ||||||
| 6 | Illinois and other states; and | ||||||
| 7 | WHEREAS, President Trump's latest funding freezes follow | ||||||
| 8 | already familiar patterns, unilaterally halting | ||||||
| 9 | congressionally mandated funding with no authorization, | ||||||
| 10 | selectively attacking specific states for political | ||||||
| 11 | retribution, targeting the most vulnerable people for cuts, | ||||||
| 12 | and exacerbating the Trump affordability crisis; and | ||||||
| 13 | WHEREAS, President Trump's suspension of funding to | ||||||
| 14 | Illinois, California, Colorado, and New York was not made | ||||||
| 15 | based on specific allegations in those states but rather | ||||||
| 16 | appear to have been targeting states with Democratic governors | ||||||
| 17 | critical of Donald Trump himself; and | ||||||
| 18 | WHEREAS, President Trump's funding freeze threatens access | ||||||
| 19 | to safe, affordable childcare for 150,000 children in Illinois | ||||||
| 20 | and 100,000 households, while also jeopardizing the jobs of | ||||||
| 21 | many childcare providers already living paycheck to paycheck; | ||||||
| 22 | and | ||||||
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| 1 | WHEREAS, President Trump is choosing to make working | ||||||
| 2 | parents' greatest expense even less affordable; childcare is | ||||||
| 3 | already one of the most daunting costs facing working | ||||||
| 4 | families, with the average cost of daycare outpacing the | ||||||
| 5 | average cost of a two-bedroom apartment in parts of Illinois | ||||||
| 6 | and across the country; and | ||||||
| 7 | WHEREAS, President Trump's allies and apologists continue | ||||||
| 8 | to say he should have the power to temporarily pause and review | ||||||
| 9 | spending, statements that sound even more hollow and desperate | ||||||
| 10 | now one year into his presidency, as federal spending levels | ||||||
| 11 | are negotiated and signed into law by Trump himself; and | ||||||
| 12 | WHEREAS, This is yet another case of President Trump | ||||||
| 13 | freezing, pausing, or impounding congressionally appropriated | ||||||
| 14 | funds, substituting his ideology for the democratic process | ||||||
| 15 | despite repeated court rulings stating such actions exceed the | ||||||
| 16 | power of the presidency; and | ||||||
| 17 | WHEREAS, President Trump's repeated attempts to freeze | ||||||
| 18 | funds for working people and modest-income families are | ||||||
| 19 | juxtaposed glaringly against his ongoing efforts to cut taxes | ||||||
| 20 | for billionaires, push a $700 billion taxpayer-funded | ||||||
| 21 | acquisition of Greenland, and pursue pathetic, | ||||||
| 22 | self-aggrandizing projects such as building a ball room or | ||||||
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| 1 | renaming the Kennedy Center; therefore, be it | ||||||
| 2 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 3 | HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 4 | we condemn President Donald Trump's effort to freeze funds for | ||||||
| 5 | affordable childcare; and be it further | ||||||
| 6 | RESOLVED, That we call for the immediate release of all | ||||||
| 7 | congressionally appropriated childcare funds. | ||||||