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“The Department of Health and Human Services has also begun
requiring a justification and photo evidence for all child
care-related payments nationwide,” Leavitt said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said all told, approximately $1
billion could be impacted for the Land of Lincoln. Pritzker said
the freeze is “wrong, it is cruel,” and the state will take
every step possible to defend those impacted.
HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said that should be easy.
“We’re not trying to slow things down, we’re not slowing things
down, we’re just saying ‘when states send us a funding request
for a legitimate program,’ we’re going to start saying ‘just
show us some receipts,’” O’Neill told The Center Square.
State agencies were notified late Tuesday of the freeze for
programs through the Child Care and Development Block Grand,
Social Services Block Grant and Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families.
A government spending watchdog is wondering what took the
federal government so long to go after possible misuse of
federal taxpayer funds.
Truth in Accounting’s Sheila Weinberg said single audits she’s
reviewed of Illinois programs raises questions.
“The state agencies were passing money, but they were not
ensuring whether that money was being used for authorized
purposes,” Weinberg told The Center Square.
Illinois’ handling of the Child Care and Development funds did
have material compliance weaknesses, something Weinberg said
means there isn’t enough evidence to determine whether funds
were properly spent.
Weinberg said it’s curious the federal government hasn’t already
moved to freeze funds to root out potential fraud.
“Why did the federal government keep on giving these states
money if they weren't monitoring the money properly?” she said.
O’Neill said the Biden administration limited the ability for
states to ask for receipts, a policy the Trump administration is
reversing.
“We just started that process to get rid of those pro fraud
regulations,” O’Neill said. “So, you can expect that later this
year, we'll finish that process and we'll actually empower
states to fight fraud, you know, better than the Biden people
did.”
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