A coalition of Democratic governors and attorneys general in 23 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for the department’s cuts of $12 billion in public health funding.
At the center of that is a cut of $11.4 billion from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allocated to state and community health departments during the COVID-19 pandemic response. The CDC said they expect to begin recovering the funds in around 30 days, according to HHS.
The states argue that although these cut funds were allocated during the pandemic, they were not intended only for response to COVID-19. There is an additional $1 billion from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that was also terminated, according to the attorneys general.
“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 press release. New York could lose $400 million if the lawsuit does not halt the cuts.
The attorneys general filed the suit in federal court in Rhode Island. They include James, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, and Govs. Andy Beshear (D-KY) and Josh Shapiro (D-PA).
The lawsuit additionally argues that the cuts are illegal, saying that the federal government did not provide “rational basis” or factual reasons to support the cuts. They said 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.”
DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEYS GENERAL EMERGE AS SOME OF THE ONLY REAL RESISTANCE AGAINST TRUMP 2.0
HHS said in a statement last week that “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.”
This lawsuit stands as the latest litigation against President Donald Trump’s administration. More than 100 lawsuits have been filed against the administration, with dozens so far putting a stop to the administration’s work.