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government did not provide a “rational basis” for them, and asks the court to immediately prevent the money from being rescinded.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 a time when diseases like measles and bird flu are on the rise.