BOISE, ID – In response to two Idaho Republican lawmakers asking the state to freeze federal funds to expand child care availability, Idaho’s top health official detailed the state’s oversight work — and its plans to do more.
Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Juliet Charron’s response to Rep. Josh Tanner and Sen. Brian Lenney, both Republicans, suggested the state had found few instances of fraud in 1,000 random audits in recent years.
Idaho’s $14 million in federal funds — approved by the Legislature in 2025 as an addition to the Idaho Child Care Program — hadn’t even been spent yet, because the state didn’t dole out the money to providers, Charron wrote in a Jan. 12 letter. But she told the lawmakers that the agency “shares your unwavering commitment to rooting out any potential fraud, waste, and abuse in all public programs (that the agency) administers.”
Idaho’s efforts come weeks after a conservative social media influencer made viral fraud allegations about Minnesota’s child care programs. The video’s claims — which spurred the Trump administration to crack down on child care funding — were largely misleading, according to a fact check by national news outlet The 19th.
Fraud hasn’t recently been alleged in Idaho’s program, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Welfare said. And Idaho’s governor defended the state’s track record of running public assistance programs.
After Idaho didn’t promise to pause spending, Idaho lawmaker mulls next steps
Idaho lawmakers ask state to freeze child care grants program
But the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare director’s letter didn’t explicitly say if the state would do what the lawmakers asked: Freeze the new child care expansion funds until more safeguards are in place. It also came two days after a deadline the lawmakers had requested.
Tanner, one of the lawmakers who asked for Idaho’s pause and who is the new co-chair of the Legislature’s powerful budget committee, said he didn’t feel like the agency fully addressed his concerns, and he’s mulling what comes next.
“We just want to make sure that any funds going out … that we are making sure that we have things in place to prevent fraud, as much as we possibly can,” he told the Sun in an interview Thursday. “We don’t want to be a Minnesota. We do not want to be any other state. We want to make sure that we learn from other people’s mistakes, and make sure that we have things in place that prevent that.”
Asked if the Department of Health and Welfare would comply with the lawmakers request, agency spokesperson AJ McWhorter said in a statement Wednesday that the agency is “working with the Governor’s office to determine the next steps.”
Governor says Idaho has strong track record of running public assistance programs
Early this month Gov. Brad Little called what’s happening in Minnesota “abominable.” But asked about concerns about Idaho’s program to-be, Little touted Idaho’s management of public assistance programs.
“I’m always concerned about fraud. I mean, but if you look at our programs, you look at SNAP, you look at Medicaid, you look at all the programs … Idaho’s compliance rates are one of the highest,” Little told reporters on Jan. 8.
Last week, McWhorter told the Sun there had not been complaints about fraud, waste or abuse in Idaho’s program to expand child care availability. But he said in the coming months, the agency is planning unannounced visits to child care facilities and other investigative actions.
Tanner said he isn’t sure if there is fraud in Idaho’s program.
“I really don’t know,” he said. “I mean, I’ve not seen blatant fraud, but I think there’s always question(s), because there is a system — there was a gaming system that was going on — that was not necessarily being looked at from, I would say, pretty much most states, and I think that’s that’s something to go back and revisit and relook at.”
What grant oversight work is the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare planning?
In her letter to Tanner and Lenney, Charron pledged to shore up more safeguards — including to review all past providers in the program within the next two months to ensure that additional funding does “meet our rigorous standards of compliance.”
But in more than 1,000 random audits of a quarter of the state’s providers, only 45 resulted in providers being removed from the program, or having their licenses suspended or revoked, Charron wrote.
“Safeguarding taxpayer dollars that support working families and vulnerable children is critical and an issue of public confidence we do not take lightly,” Charron said in a written statement included in a news release last week. “Every effort devoted to proactive prevention and detection efforts saves in recovery costs, ensures program integrity, and preserves vital services for those who truly need them. Any bad actors will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.
