New union lawsuit challenges harmful changes to federal child care program
Child care would be more expensive and harder to find if the administration’s unlawful attacks on the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) become law. That’s why AFSCME members have joined a lawsuit to protect the fund and the working families and essential child care providers it supports.
AFSCME and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have joined forces in this court battle. They’re asking a federal judge in Seattle to block the administration’s proposed changes to the CCDF that threaten to put smaller, independent child care providers out of business and deprive lower-income families of affordable care that is critical to working parents.
“The administration’s new rule will devastate the essential child care providers who are already struggling to keep their businesses open, while jeopardizing child care for families who need it most,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “AFSCME members who provide child care and rely on this funding are already operating on razor-thin margins at great personal sacrifice, and the families they serve are struggling to make ends meet.”
“Instead of making the cost-of-living crisis even worse by shrinking the child care market and refusing to contain the cost of child care for working people, the administration should abandon this harmful policy and invest in these essential services and our families,” Saunders added.
CCDF helps nearly 1 million families and 1.6 million children afford child care each month. More than 200,000 child care providers — including AFSCME members — depend on CCDF grants, contracts and vouchers to keep their doors open.
The Trump administration’s proposed rule changes would roll back improvements to the program made in 2024 to better support providers and families, especially in underserved areas.
