President Donald Trump said Wednesday that it is “impossible” for the federal government to fund Medicare, Medicaid and child care costs, arguing that while the federal government focuses on military spending, it should be left to states to “underwrite” these programs.
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The president’s remarks were delivered to attendees at a private Easter luncheon at the White House, where Trump also accused Democratic-led states of wrongdoing.
He also told Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, “Don’t send money to child care centers. Because America can’t take care of child care centers. That should be left to the states. We can’t take care of child care centers. We can’t take care of child care centers. It’s a big country. We have 50 states. We’re at war. We have to have the states take care of them.” You have to pay for that too. ”
Later in his remarks, the president added that states would have to raise taxes to pay for child care, and that the federal government could “lower state taxes a little bit” to make up for it.
“It’s impossible to address every individual issue like day care, Medicaid, Medicare,” Trump said. “They can do it state by state, but they can’t do it federally. There’s one thing we have to be careful about: military protection. We have to protect our country.”
The Easter luncheon where the president made these remarks was closed to the press, but the White House posted a video of Trump’s remarks on its YouTube page and later deleted it, as it does for regular public news conferences. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the video.
The federal government currently provides funds to states to subsidize child care for low-income families through programs such as the Child Care and Development Block Grant and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Democrats have long sought to pass federal legislation that would further subsidize child care costs for families with young children.
Last year, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., introduced legislation that would expand access to early education and cap child care costs for households at 7% of household income.
Some Democratic lawmakers were quick to heed President Trump’s remarks Wednesday, comparing child care costs to the cost of the ongoing Iranian military operation, which exceeded $11.3 billion in the first six days of last month.
“President Trump says he can pay for the war in Iran, but not for child care. Mr. President, the billions of dollars you wasted on Iran could pay for $10 a day of child care for every American family with a $25-an-hour child care worker,” California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna wrote in a post on X.
“For the cost of three weeks of this war, we could provide every senior on Medicare with a year of vision, hearing, and dental coverage. It’s possible. Trump just isn’t willing to do it,” Sen. Andy Kim (DN.J.) wrote in X.
For months, members of the Trump administration, including the president, have accused states that receive federal child care subsidies of fraud, but there is little evidence. In January, the Department of Health and Human Services even froze access to child care and family assistance funds in five Democratic-led states: California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York.
In December, the Trump administration specifically targeted Minnesota after conservative influencers made widespread accusations that the state’s child care facilities were fraudulent.
A subsequent investigation by the state Department of Children, Youth and Families found that the child care center at the epicenter of the virus attack was operating normally.
On Wednesday, President Trump again accused Democratic states of fraud, telling Easter luncheon attendees that “there are thousands of people in Minnesota and Los Angeles.” [daycare centers]. ”
President Trump claimed that there are “more child care centers than children” in these areas. There are literally thousands of them. So we send an inspector. Of the roughly 700 locations they looked at in Minnesota, not a single one was a day care center. ”
He also accused Republican-led states of fraud and “theft” and said they needed to “compete” with Democratic-led states.
“A lot of states, probably Republican states, too, because they’re going to see it. They’re not the same — they’re not as thieves as we are, but you know, they don’t believe in thieves — but when they see the Democrats doing it, they have to counter it. So I can’t imagine they’re not doing it. I just can’t imagine it,” Trump said.
The President has appointed Vice President J.D. Vance to lead the mission to root out fraud. Last week, Mr. Vance convened the first meeting of his administration’s new anti-fraud task force. And on Wednesday, the vice president swore in Colin McDonald to serve as assistant attorney general for national fraud enforcement.
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