By DEVNA BOSE and LINDSEY WHITEHURST | The Associated Press
A coalition of state attorneys general sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over its decision to cut $11 billion in federal funds that go toward COVID-19 initiatives and various public health projects across the country.
Attorneys general from California and 22 other states filed the suit in federal court in Rhode Island. They include New York Attorney General Letitia James, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as well as attorneys general in Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.
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The lawsuit, filed against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., argues the cuts are illegal, and that the federal government did not provide “rational basis” or facts to support the cuts. The attorneys general say it will result in “serious harm to public health” and put states “at greater risk for future pandemics and the spread of otherwise preventable disease and cutting off vital public health services.”
“America just went through a pandemic — one that erased jobs throughout the country, upended our lives, and caused the deaths of thousands of Coloradans,” Weiser said in a statement. “The public health impacts of that pandemic continue to linger, including mental health and substance abuse challenges. This action of Secretary Kennedy to defund committed grants for public health and behavioral health purposes is inexplicable, illegal, and will cause untold damage to Colorado.”
Colorado’s health agencies will lose more than $230 in federal grants through the cuts, including money earmarked for COVID-19 disease tracking, childhood vaccinations and studies of health disparities.
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The lawsuit asks the court to immediately stop the Trump administration from rescinding the money, which was allocated by Congress during the pandemic and mostly used for COVID-related efforts such as testing and vaccination. The money also went to addiction and mental health programs.
“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,” James said Tuesday in a news release.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department, which began serving employees dismissal notices on Tuesday in what’s expected to total 10,000 layoffs, said it does not comment on ongoing litigation.
HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon pointed to the agency’s statement from last week, when the decision to claw back the money was announced. The 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.”
Local and state public health departments are still assessing the impact of the loss of funds, though the lawsuit points to the clawback putting hundreds of jobs at risk and weakening efforts to stem infectious diseases like flu and measles.
Health officials in North Carolina, which joined the lawsuit, 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.”
Already, more than two dozen COVID-related research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health have been canceled.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from March shows that COVID-19 killed 411 people each week on average, even though the federal public health emergency has ended.
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