U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy issued a temporary restraining order on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) move to cut $11 billion in public health funding.
“They make a case, a strong case, for the fact that they will succeed on the merits, so I’m going to grant the temporary restraining order,” McElroy said.
The decision comes as 23 states sued HHS for its retraction of $11.4 billion in COVID-19-related funds allocated to state and local public health departments and other health organizations nationwide. The rescinded funds were primarily designated for COVID-19 testing, vaccination efforts, global health projects, community health workers, and programs addressing health disparities among high-risk and underserved populations, including minority groups.
States involved in the lawsuit include Colorado, Rhode Island, California, Minnesota, Washington, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin. The governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania also joined the lawsuit, as did the District of Columbia.
“This funding provides essential support for a wide range of urgent public health needs such as identifying, tracking, and addressing infectious diseases; ensuring access to immunizations; fortifying emergency preparedness; providing mental health and substance abuse services; and modernizing critical public health infrastructure,” the states wrote in their lawsuit.
“This massive and egregiously irresponsible cut of public health funding should put everyone on high alert to the depths this Administration is willing to go,” the filing said, claiming that “key public health programs and initiatives that address ongoing and emerging public health needs” would be “dissolved or disbanded” if funding is not restored.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said after the ruling, “We just got a court order to temporarily block Trump’s illegal cuts to billions in vital state health funding. We’re going to continue our lawsuit and fight to ensure states can provide the medical services Americans need.”
