By DEVNA BOSE and LINDSEY WHITEHURST Associated Press
A coalition of states sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over its decision to cut $11 billion in federal funds that go toward COVID-19 initiatives and various public health projects across the country.
Attorneys general and other officials from 23 states sued in federal court in Rhode Island. They include New York Attorney General Letitia James and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, as well as Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit argues the cuts are illegal, and that the federal government did not provide “rational basis” or facts to support the cuts. The attorneys general say 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.”
The lawsuit asks the court to immediately stop the Trump administration from rescinding the money, which was allocated by Congress during the pandemic and mostly used for COVID-related efforts such as testing and vaccination. The money also went to addiction and mental health programs.
“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,” James said Tuesday in a news release.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department, which began serving employees dismissal notices on Tuesday in what’s expected to total 10,000 layoffs, said it does not comment on ongoing litigation.
HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon pointed to the agency’s statement from last week, when the decision to claw back the money was announced. The HHS said then that it “will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.”
Local and state public health departments are still assessing the impact of the loss of funds, though the lawsuit points to the clawback putting hundreds of jobs at risk and weakening efforts to stem infectious diseases like flu and measles.
The Minnesota Department of Health said it sent layoff and separation notices Tuesday to 170 employees whose positions were funded by recently terminated federal grants. The state agency also said about 300 more workers were at risk of having their positions eliminated, and that it had rescinded job offers to nearly 20 people.
The agency said the layoffs and separations are a direct consequence of the federal government’s cutting more than $220 million in previously approved funding.
“We are working now to figure out how much of this critical public health work we can save and continue,” Minnesota Health Commissioner Brooke Cunningham said in a statement. “The sudden and unexpected action from the federal government left us with no choice but to proceed with layoffs immediately.”
California could lose almost $1 billion, according to a statement from state Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office. That money supports a number of public health initiatives, including substance use disorder prevention programs, vaccination efforts and bird flu prevention.
Health officials in North Carolina, which joined the lawsuit, estimate the state could lose $230 million, harming dozens of local health departments, hospital systems, universities and rural health centers. At least 80 government jobs and dozens of contractors would be affected, according to state health officials.
“There are legal ways to improve how tax dollars are used, but this wasn’t one of them,” North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson said. “Immediately halting critical health care programs across the state without legal authority isn’t just wrong — it puts lives at risk.”
Already, more than two dozen COVID-related research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health have been cancelled.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from March shows that COVID-19 killed 411 people each week on average, even though the federal public health emergency has ended.
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Associated Press reporter Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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This story has been corrected to show that the amount of money that was cut was $11 billion, not $12 billion.