Childcare is essential infrastructure. It enables workforce participation, supports child development, and sustains economic activity in communities throughout Minnesota. When federal funding that supports childcare is frozen, delayed, or left uncertain, the effects are immediate and far-reaching.

The consequences of the threat of a federal funding freeze are already being felt across Minnesota. Childcare programs are experiencing family and staff absences, providers are scared and uncertain about continued operation. Providers are being asked to absorb financial risk they are not positioned to carry. Families face disruption and fear around the availability of care and over 20,000 kids are at risk of losing care entirely. Employers and local economies feel the downstream effects when workers cannot reliably participate in the workforce without stable childcare.

We recognize the importance of fiscal oversight and accountability at all levels of government. However, the current uncertainty ultimately undermines responsible governance by destabilizing essential systems and shifting risk onto families, frontline workers, and small businesses least able to absorb disruption.

The harm caused by funding freezes is not evenly distributed. Rural communities, low-income families, and communities of color are often impacted first and most severely, exacerbating existing inequities in access to care and economic opportunity.

As legislators, we have a responsibility to advocate for stability, clarity around, and timely delivery of federal resources that support essential public infrastructure. When funding disruptions create foreseeable harm, it is our duty to name those impacts and push for corrective action.

We call for a reversal of the federal funding freeze affecting childcare and related family supports.

Minnesota families and employers cannot plan around uncertainty. Childcare providers cannot continue to shoulder systemic risk created by delayed or frozen federal funding. A stable childcare system is fundamental to a stable economy and thriving communities.

We believe immediate action is necessary to prevent further harm and to uphold our shared responsibility to Minnesota’s families, workers, and children.

Respectfully,

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