Congress Funded Head Start. The Trump Administration Is Holding Up the Money.

Families rely on federally funded Head Start programs, which in some cases are the only licensed child care providers in a community.

Congress passed just a three-month continuing resolution to keep the government open last September .

As of April 15 , the federal government had sent nearly $1 billion less than it had at the same point last year , representing a 37 percent annualized cut.

Head Start director: “The level of anxiety has never been this high.” One cause of delays seems to be the firing of Head Start staff that approved grants.

On April 1 , the Trump administration closed five Head Start regional offices, in Boston , Chicago , New York , San Francisco .

May 1 Head Start grantees appear to have gotten at least some of the funding they were expecting.

The same waiting game is now starting for those whose funding will come due on June 1 and July 1 .

All Head Start programs have now been subjected to “defend the spend” procedures by Elon Musk’s DOGE operation.