Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 24 attorneys general and governors, today filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for abruptly and illegally terminating nearly $12 billion in critical public health grants to states.
The grant terminations, which came with no warning or legally valid explanation, have quickly caused chaos for state health agencies that continue to rely on these critical funds for a wide range of urgent public health needs such as infectious disease management, fortifying emergency preparedness, providing mental health and substance abuse services, and modernizing public health infrastructure.
“Illinois and states across the nation rely on federal grants to provide state public health services that protect our children and residents from serious diseases or health crises,” Raoul said. “The abrupt termination of this funding that impacts millions of American lives is both callous and unlawful. I am absolutely committed to standing with other state attorneys general to fight the Trump administration’s ludicrous and unlawful actions that threaten the health and safety of Illinois residents.”
Illinois stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars from these cancelations by HHS. The programs funded by these grants support critical state and local public health services, such as providing vaccines to children, supporting public schools’ ability to share information about communicable diseases, administering tests for serious diseases like Ebola, constructing laboratory facilities for disease monitoring, and addressing public health crises like measles and influenza in children.
Attorney General Raoul and the coalition warn that the HHS cuts 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.
Congress authorized and appropriated new and increased funding for these grants in COVID-19-related legislation to support critical public health needs. Many of these grants are from specific programs created by Congress, such as block grants to states for mental health and substance abuse and addiction services. Yet, with no legal authority or explanation, HHS agencies on March 24 arbitrarily terminated these grants “for cause” effective immediately claiming that the pandemic is over and the grants are no longer necessary.
In their lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, Raoul and the coalition 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. HHS’ position, up until a few days ago, was that the end of the pandemic did not affect the availability of these grant funds. Additionally, for some of the grants, termination “for cause” is not a permissible basis for termination. Yet, the federal government unlawfully terminated them.
With this lawsuit, Attorney General Raoul and the coalition are seeking a temporary restraining order to invalidate HHS’ mass grant terminations in the suing states, arguing the actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act. The states are also asking the court to prevent HHS from maintaining or reinstating the terminations, and any agency actions implementing them.
Joining Attorney General Raoul in sending this letter are the attorneys general of Arizona California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Washington, as well as the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
