The announcement marks a key step toward Mamdani’s pledge of free care for children under 5 in New York City.
By Sharon Zhang ,
January 9, 2026
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani addresses the crowd at an event announcing expansions for free and affordable childcare programs in New York City and across the state of New York, held at the Flatbush Branch YMCA in New York City, New York, United States on January 8, 2026.Jason Alpert-Wisnia / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled a plan to provide free child care for 2-year-olds and expand other child care support for thousands more children across the state on Thursday, in one of the first major steps toward fulfilling Mamdani’s campaign pledge of universal access.
The governor said that the state is fully funding the first two years of a free child care program for children under 2 years old in New York City, which the government will first unroll in areas of high need. The politicians are also teaming up to expand the city’s program to provide free child care and education for 3-year-olds, known as 3K.
Further, the governor has proposed ensuring universal pre-kindergarten access across the state by the end of the 2028-2029 school year.
In all, the plan — which also expands child care subsidies for thousands of families — will make an additional nearly 100,000 children eligible for city- and state-supported child care programs, the officials said.
The proposed expansion will cost $1.7 billion, according to the governor’s office, dipping into existing state funds, and will go to the state legislature for approval.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled a plan to provide free child care for 2-year-olds and expand other child care support for thousands more children across the state on Thursday, in one of the first major steps toward fulfilling Mamdani’s campaign pledge of universal access.
The governor said that the state is fully funding the first two years of a free child care program for children under 2 years old in New York City, which the government will first unroll in areas of high need. The politicians are also teaming up to expand the city’s program to provide free child care and education for 3-year-olds, known as 3K.
Further, the governor has proposed ensuring universal pre-kindergarten access across the state by the end of the 2028-2029 school year.
In all, the plan — which also expands child care subsidies for thousands of families — will make an additional nearly 100,000 children eligible for city- and state-supported child care programs, the officials said.
The proposed expansion will cost $1.7 billion, according to the governor’s office, dipping into existing state funds, and will go to the state legislature for approval.
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“This is the day that everything changes,” said Hochul at a news conference on the proposal, at a child care center in a YMCA in Brooklyn. “The era of empty promises ends with the two of us, right here, right now.”
The proposal marks a key step toward fulfilling Mamdani’s campaign pledge of providing free child care for all children under 5 in the city.
“To those who doubt the power of the people to make their own destiny, to the cynics who insist that politics is too broken to deliver meaningful change, to those who think that the promises of a campaign cannot survive once confronted with the realities of government, today is your answer,” Mamdani said.
The plan is a blow against Mamdani’s naysayers on the campaign trail who dismissed his ideas as unrealistic. It comes amid a child care crisis across the country, with care becoming increasingly unaffordable and sparse.
The policy stands in sharp contrast to the Trump administration, which is seeking to slash child care access. This week, reports found that the Trump administration is freezing $10 billion in funds for child care in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, while it investigates supposed fraud after a debunked video by a right-wing influencer, Nick Shirley, circulated last week.
It’s unclear if the administration’s funding freeze will affect the announcement, as Hochul has proposed using existing state funding for the expansion, but other elements of the state’s child care spending may be at risk. New York Attorney General Letitia James is leading a lawsuit of the affected states against the Trump administration for freezing the funds.
Vance Announces New Deputy AG Role to Root Out Supposed “Fraud”
The Trump administration has frequently cited fraud as a basis for cutting benefits for US residents.
By Chris Walker ,
The Trump administration has frequently cited fraud as a basis for cutting benefits for US residents.
By Chris Walker ,
January 9, 2026
Vice President JD Vance speaks during a news briefing in the White House on January 8, 2026.Alex Wong / Getty Images
On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance announced the creation of a new position within the Department of Justice (DOJ) with broad authority to investigate “fraud.”
The Trump administration has frequently cited fraud as a basis for cutting or undermining rights or benefits for U.S. residents — particularly fraud they assert is due to immigration. Recently, for example, the White House blocked $10 billion in federal expenditures for child care and other services in five Democratic-controlled states. Those states are now suing the administration to have the funds released.
In his statement, Vance said a person has already been selected for the position, but did not name them. He also said the person would serve in a deputy attorney general role.
“This is the person who is going to make sure we stop defrauding the American people,” Vance claimed, frequently invoking fraud in Minnesota that is being investigated by federal officials.
That fraud inquiry, however, was inspired in large part by debunked “reporting” from a right-wing YouTube personality, who alleged widespread fraud among Somali residents who are receiving federal funding to manage daycare centers. While fraud involving some federal monies has occurred, conservative social media channels have suggested that the scale of the fraud is far larger than it actually is.
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Immigrant rights advocates worry that the new fraud investigations will give authorities license to even further target and harass immigrants. “They’re doing these visits at day care sites under the auspices of conducting a fraud investigation, but if they happen to see anyone who fits a profile, they might be arrested,” said Ana Pottratz Acosta at the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School.
Vance explained that the new deputy attorney general’s mission of rooting out supposed fraud would indeed begin in Minnesota, but would expand to other parts of the country.
“We’re looking into broad investigative authority, to a number of instances of wrongdoing that we’ve seen in Minneapolis,” Vance said, leaving specifics out of his statement. “We want to expand this.”
Vance also explained that the new position will have “nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud,” and that the individual would answer primarily to himself and to President Donald Trump.
The vice president alluded to the announcement in a Fox News interview earlier this week.
“I believe we’re gonna have some very big announcements in the next couple of days,” Vance said on Wednesday. “I don’t want to get ahead of the president, but we believe there is a nationwide fraud ring that’s rooted in illegal aliens and others taking advantage of the American welfare system.”
Vance has a sordid history of using immigrants as scapegoats to advance his political goals, even when allegations are overblown or, in many instances, are flat-out lies.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, for example, when Donald Trump peddled the racist lie that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents’ pets, Vance doubled down on the claim, eventually saying that he didn’t care if it was true or not, so long as it helped advance his agenda.
“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” Vance said.
The lies prompted multiple threats against residents in the city, including bomb threats, resulting in closures of public buildings and schools.
On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance announced the creation of a new position within the Department of Justice (DOJ) with broad authority to investigate “fraud.”
The Trump administration has frequently cited fraud as a basis for cutting or undermining rights or benefits for U.S. residents — particularly fraud they assert is due to immigration. Recently, for example, the White House blocked $10 billion in federal expenditures for child care and other services in five Democratic-controlled states. Those states are now suing the administration to have the funds released.
In his statement, Vance said a person has already been selected for the position, but did not name them. He also said the person would serve in a deputy attorney general role.
“This is the person who is going to make sure we stop defrauding the American people,” Vance claimed, frequently invoking fraud in Minnesota that is being investigated by federal officials.
That fraud inquiry, however, was inspired in large part by debunked “reporting” from a right-wing YouTube personality, who alleged widespread fraud among Somali residents who are receiving federal funding to manage daycare centers. While fraud involving some federal monies has occurred, conservative social media channels have suggested that the scale of the fraud is far larger than it actually is.
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Immigrant rights advocates worry that the new fraud investigations will give authorities license to even further target and harass immigrants. “They’re doing these visits at day care sites under the auspices of conducting a fraud investigation, but if they happen to see anyone who fits a profile, they might be arrested,” said Ana Pottratz Acosta at the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School.
Vance explained that the new deputy attorney general’s mission of rooting out supposed fraud would indeed begin in Minnesota, but would expand to other parts of the country.
“We’re looking into broad investigative authority, to a number of instances of wrongdoing that we’ve seen in Minneapolis,” Vance said, leaving specifics out of his statement. “We want to expand this.”
Vance also explained that the new position will have “nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud,” and that the individual would answer primarily to himself and to President Donald Trump.
The vice president alluded to the announcement in a Fox News interview earlier this week.
“I believe we’re gonna have some very big announcements in the next couple of days,” Vance said on Wednesday. “I don’t want to get ahead of the president, but we believe there is a nationwide fraud ring that’s rooted in illegal aliens and others taking advantage of the American welfare system.”
Vance has a sordid history of using immigrants as scapegoats to advance his political goals, even when allegations are overblown or, in many instances, are flat-out lies.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, for example, when Donald Trump peddled the racist lie that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents’ pets, Vance doubled down on the claim, eventually saying that he didn’t care if it was true or not, so long as it helped advance his agenda.
“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” Vance said.
The lies prompted multiple threats against residents in the city, including bomb threats, resulting in closures of public buildings and schools.
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