Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia are filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for abruptly and illegally terminating $11 billion in grants to the states.
That is including more than $250 million to Minnesota which is joining the suit.
“The Trump Administration are gluttons for breaking the law to weaken our country and put Americans in danger,” Minnesota Attorney General Ellison said. “These terminations are as treacherous as they are illegal. They’re also a maddeningly predictable consequence of handing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. the keys to America’s public-health system. I will use every tool at my disposal to protect Minnesotans and all Americans from the consequences of this dangerous law-breaking.”
Federal health officials said last week that they were pulling back $11.4 billion in COVID-19-related funds for local public health departments and other health organizations throughout the nation. The money was used for things like COVID-19 vaccination and testing.
“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 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
The grant terminations, which the suit says came with no warning or legally valid explanation, have quickly caused chaos for state health agencies that continue to rely on the funds for a wide range of public health needs such as infectious disease management, fortifying emergency preparedness, providing mental health and substance abuse services, and modernizing public health infrastructure.
The HHS cuts further threaten the urgent public health needs of states around the country at a time when emerging disease threats — such as measles and bird flu — are on the rise, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition warn.
In their lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, the coalition of attorneys general and governors assert that the mass terminations violate federal law because the end of the pandemic is not a “for cause” basis for ending the grants, especially since none of the appropriated funds are tied to the end of the pandemic which occurred more than a year ago.
Joining Attorney General Ellison in co-leading today’s lawsuit are Attorney General Phil Weiser of Colorado, Attorney General Rob Bonta of California, Attorney General Peter Neronha of Rhode Island, and Attorney General Nick Brown of Washington. They are joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Oregon, and Wisconsin.
They are additionally joined by the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.