Democratic officers from 23 states and the District of Columbia will get a Thursday listening to in a case suing to cease the Trump administration from canceling greater than $11 billion in public well being funding.
The states sued the Division of Well being and Human Providers (HHS) on Tuesday, asking for a preliminary injunction and non permanent restraining order to cease the cuts from taking impact. The officers claimed the administration acted unlawfully, with none evaluation of advantages of the well being funding or the dire penalties of termination.
The lawsuit was filed within the U.S. District Court docket for the District of Rhode Island. Thursday’s listening to might be in entrance of Decide Mary McElroy, who was appointed by President Trump in 2019.
HHS mentioned the funds, totaling $11.4 billion, have been primarily used for COVID-19 response together with testing, vaccination and hiring group well being employees. Because the pandemic has ended, HHS mentioned the funds can be rescinded.
The administration additionally canceled about $1 billion in grants awarded by coronavirus aid laws and allotted by the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Providers Administration.
“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 division mentioned final week in an announcement.
The lawsuit claims that rationalization “is nonsensical” and says the administration gave “no other facts supporting termination. They contain no acknowledgment of the public health purposes for which the grants actually have been and are being used, much less an explanation of why those uses are no longer necessary.”
State and native well being division leaders mentioned the cash was already of their fingers. Despite the fact that the grants have been initially licensed by COVID aid laws, they have been allowed for use for non-COVID priorities, together with responding to the measles outbreak in Texas.
The lawsuit argues the federal authorities doesn’t have the authorized authority to unilaterally rescind funding it already allotted, notably when states have constructed important well being applications across the commitments.
As an example, California Legal professional Basic Rob Bonta mentioned the state stands to lose greater than $972 million. In New York, greater than $400 million in essential funding has been terminated, and North Carolina officers estimated the state might lose $230 million, whereas Massachusetts has estimated it might lose greater than $100 million.
State and native officers have mentioned the choice to remove funding they have been relying on will make it even more durable for them to proceed to struggle infectious illness outbreaks, fund substance use dysfunction assist applications and handle different issues.
