US judge temporarily blocks federal freeze on child care and family assistance News
By TJ Bickerton - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
US judge temporarily blocks federal freeze on child care and family assistance

A federal district court in New York issued a two week temporary restraining order (TRO) Friday, blocking a Trump administration plan to withhold family assistance funds from five states.

On Tuesday, the administration said that it would suspend payments to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York under three federal social programs because of alleged fraud. On Thursday, the states asked the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for an emergency injunction, which the court granted yesterday.

The dispute involves three funds.  The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) subsidizes child care for low-income families while parents work or attend job training. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) helps families to pay for food, housing, child care and job training. The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) is a smaller, flexible program that states can use to provide a variety of services that protect children.

The Trump administration had also demanded the names and social security numbers of everyone who received benefits from some of the programs since 2022. In response, the states contended that the demand is an unconstitutional attempt to identify political opponents, rather than eliminate fraud.

According to a press release from the Department of Health and Human Services, the funds in question provide about $10 billion annually to the five states.  Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said: “Families who rely on child care and family assistance programs deserve confidence that these resources are used lawfully and for their intended purpose.  This action reflects our commitment to program integrity, fiscal responsibility, and compliance with federal requirements.”

In a statement announcing the lawsuit California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, “HHS has not provided any evidence at all to support those claims… The American people are sick and tired of President Trump’s lawlessness, lies, and misinformation campaigns. It is especially pathetic that, once again, his Administration’s actions are inflicting harm on the most vulnerable among us.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James also accused the administration of acting without congressional approval, saying that “freezing these funds will immediately jeopardize some of the most important anti-poverty programs in the states, putting vulnerable families at risk… I will not allow this administration to play political games with the resources families need to help make ends meet.”

THIS DAY @ LAW

First US life insurance company incorporated

On January 11, 1759, America's first life insurance company was incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of Presbyterian Ministers was established by Presbyterians to support the families of their ministers. In 1988, the company's name was changed to the Presbyterian Ministers' Fund. The company later became Covenant Life Insurance Company before being acquired by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company in 2002. Read a history of the Presbyterian Ministers' Fund from the Pennsylvania Historical Society.

Treaty ended Anglo-American claims, courts in China

On January 11, 1943, the United States and Great Britain relinquished by treaty their extraterritorial claims in China. This abandonment effectively ended the jurisdiction of the extraterritorial United States Court for China (established 1906) and the British Supreme Court in China. Read more about the United States Court for China, which one scholar has called "probably the strangest federal tribunal ever constituted by Congress," in a short online history of the US Ninth Circuit.