Trump administration sued by 23 states, D.C. over HHS cutting $11 billion in public health funding
A coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration Tuesday over $11 billion in cuts to public health grants.
The states suing the Health and Human Services Department and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. say the money is used for a range of "urgent public health needs," including tracking infectious diseases, giving access to vaccinations, improving emergency preparedness, providing mental health and substance abuse services and modernizing public health infrastructure.
HHS announced in March it would stop providing the funds, which were allocated by Congress during the COVID-19 pandemic. The department argued the cuts were justified because "the COVID-19 pandemic is over."
The lawsuit calls the cuts illegal, arguing the federal government did not provide a "rational basis" for them, and asks the court to immediately prevent the money from being rescinded. It says Congress did not limit the funding to use for the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plaintiffs say the loss in funds means "large numbers" of jobs could be eliminated and puts their states "at greater risk for future pandemics and the spread of otherwise preventable disease."
"This massive and egregiously irresponsible cut of public health funding should put everyone on high alert to the depths this Administration is willing to go," said Attorney General Peter Neronha of Rhode Island, where the lawsuit was filed. He also noted that the cuts threaten "urgent public health needs" at at time when diseases like measles and bird flu are on the rise.
Neronha was joined by the attorneys general or governors of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, Wisconsin and D.C.
"Slashing this funding now will reverse our progress on the opioid crisis, throw our mental health systems into chaos, and leave hospitals struggling to care for patients," New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. James said New York would lose nearly $400 million in the cuts.
Health officials in North Carolina estimate the state could lose $230 million, harming dozens of local health departments, hospital systems and universities, and rural health centers. At least 80 government jobs and dozens of contractors would be affected, according to state health officials.
"There are legal ways to improve how tax dollars are used, but this wasn't one of them," North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson said. "Immediately halting critical health care programs across the state without legal authority isn't just wrong — it puts lives at risk."
HHS said it does not comment on ongoing litigation.
The department is undergoing a reorganization led by Kennedy and DOGE that is expected to result in 10,000 layoffs and another 10,000 workers taking early retirement or voluntary separation offers across the federal health agencies.
HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon pointed to the agency's statement when the decision to take back the money was announced. HHS said then that it "will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago."
