Four Democratic-led states have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over plans to cut $602 million in CDC funding, following a directive from the Office of Management and Budget ordering the agency to rescind the grants.
California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota filed the 26-page complaint Feb. 11 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
On Feb. 5, the OMB ordered the CDC to revoke $602 million in funding from the states, citing “waste and mismanagement” of taxpayer funds.
HHS notified Congress Feb. 10 of its intention to terminate the grants, carrying out the OMB’s directive, according to a news release from California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
An HHS spokesperson told Becker’s the grants are being terminated because they “do not reflect agency priorities.”
The targeted grants include funding for public health infrastructure, as well as testing and treatment programs for diseases such as HIV. According to a Feb. 6 report from The Hill, they include $3 million to address COVID-19 disparities among racial and ethnic minorities in Colorado, $5.2 million for Chicago-based Lurie Children’s Hospital to increase HIV PrEP use among Black women and $500,000 for the University of California to study laws aimed at preventing sexual and intimate partner violence.
The largest grant program at issue is the Public Health Infrastructure Block Grant, which operates in all 50 states. California faces the largest share of the proposed cuts, according to Mr. Bonta.
The lawsuit alleges the funding cuts would “impose catastrophic irreparable harm” on the states and are “based on political animus and disagreements about unrelated topics such as federal immigration enforcement, political protest and clean energy.”
In the lawsuit, the attorneys general argue the planned funding cuts violate the Administrative Procedure Act and exceed federal agencies’ statutory authority by imposing retroactive conditions on previously awarded funding.
The legal challenge comes weeks after HHS moved in early January to halt roughly $10 billion in federal funds to the same four states, along with New York. A federal judge later blocked that funding freeze through a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
