States sue Trump administration for $11 billion cuts to public health funding

(CN) — A coalition of Democratic officials from 23 states and the District of Columbia**  sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for slashing** ** more than $11 billion of critical public health funding “with no advance notice or warning.”

The officials — including Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Attorney General Rob Bonta — filed the 45-page lawsuit in federal court in Rhode Island, claiming that the funding cuts would impact “a wide range of urgent public health needs” like vaccine distribution and the tracking of infectious diseases.

“The result of these massive, unexpected funding 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 states argue.

Congress greenlit the funding in question at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would be pulling that cash last week, claiming that the money was being “waste[d]” on pandemic-era responses that were no longer necessary.

“The Covid-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago," the department said in a statement last week.

But the states claim that the funding was also being used to combat more current threats to public health, including the measles, which is surging in the United States as vaccination rates have dropped in recent years, and bird flu, which has contributed to soaring egg prices and has alarmed scientists by spreading to mammals.

The funding was also critical to “fortifying emergency preparedness” and supporting mental health and substance abuse services, which the states say became even more necessary in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the $11.4 billion now on the chopping block, the states claim they will be in a worse position to tackle these challenges.

“For example, in Washington, HHS rescinded approximately $118 million … impacting approximately 150 full-time employees,” the states claim. “Loss of these funds would cause an immediate reduction in the state public health agency’s ability to respond to emerging outbreaks for mpox, measles, and H5N1. These funds also support data analytics work related to surveillance for post-Covid conditions, Covid-risk factors, and health care access and health workforce challenges across the state of Washington.”

The states are seeking an emergency temporary restraining order to keep the federal government from taking back the billions of dollars of funding they had already allocated for these health programs.

“The Trump administration’s illegal and irresponsible decision to claw back life-saving health funding is an attack on the well-being of millions of Americans,” New York Attorney General James said in a statement Tuesday. “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 alone stands to lose more than $400 million in funding, which James says has forced the state’s health department to halt programs that address health disparities and shutter ones focused on LGBTQ+ and immigrant health. The state’s school vaccination programs have also had funding pulled, according to James’ office.

The Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are the named defendants in the lawsuit. It is one of dozens of complaints filed against the Trump administration over its unprecedented cuts to federal grant funding.

“HHS does not comment on ongoing litigation,” a department spokesperson said when reached for comment on Tuesday.

Joining the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York and California in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Colorado, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Washington, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon and Wisconsin.

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