Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, along with 21 other attorneys generals and two governors, are suing U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his department over the abrupt termination of $11 billion in public health funding.
The federal lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in Rhode Island, says the cuts “immediately triggered chaos for State and local health jurisdictions,” and that key public health programs and initiatives that address public health needs will have to be dissolved or disbanded.
Employees across the U.S. Health and Human Services Department on Tuesday began receiving notices of dismissal — and layoffs of up to 10,000 people are expected, including researchers, scientists, doctors and senior leaders, according to the Associated Press. It is not immediately clear whether any Illinois staffers have been dismissed, and Gov. JB Pritzker’s office on Tuesday morning said it had not received word of terminations.
“The result of these massive, unexpected terminations is serious harm to public health, leaving Plaintiff States at greater risk for future pandemics and the spread of otherwise preventable disease and cutting off vital public health services,” the suit says.
The suit is seeking to vacate the funding cuts and enjoin Trump administration officials from implementing and enforcing the cuts. It’s also seeking a declaration that the cuts violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
The Department of Health and Human Services said the cuts were made because it would “no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.”
State officials last week learned the Trump administration had rescinded $28 million in previously approved grants from the Illinois Department of Human Services and $125 million in funds from the state Department of Public Health.
Illinois public health officials said with “the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us,” the $125 million in federal dollars were crucial to strengthening disease surveillance, “and to prepare for future potential pandemics.” The money was earmarked for wastewater surveillance, laboratory investments and bolstering the public health workforce.
The suit claims the termination of billions of public funding “with no warning” is unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act. It also asserts that states have complied with the terms and conditions of grants and agreements, and that Congress did not limit funding to the period of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Plaintiffs include the attorneys general of Colorado, Rhode Island, California, Minnesota, the state of Washington, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Wisconsin. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear are also listed as plaintiffs — largely because Kentucky and Pennsylvania are led by Republican attorneys general.
Raoul called the termination of public funding “both callous and unlawful.” He’s also warning that the cuts threaten urgent public health needs when emerging health threats like measles and bird flu are on the rise.
“I am absolutely committed to standing with other state attorneys general to fight the Trump administration’s ludicrous and unlawful actions that threaten the health and safety of Illinois residents,” Raoul said in announcing the suit.