A federal judge on Friday indefinitely blocked the Trump administration from pulling back more than $11 billion in public health funding from state and local health departments.
The ruling from Judge Mary McElroy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island extends a temporary restraining order she issued in April that stopped the administration from wiping out the pandemic-era funding to a group of 23 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia.
The attorneys general suing the administration said the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) acted unlawfully when it suddenly ended the grants, without any analysis of the benefits of the health funding or the dire consequences of termination.
State and local health department leaders said the money was already in their hands. Even though the grants were initially authorized by COVID relief legislation, they were allowed to be used for non-COVID priorities, including responding to the measles outbreak in Texas.
McElroy, who was appointed by President Trump, wrote that the states have shown the grant terminations “would result in devastating consequences to their local jurisdictions … would constrain the States’ infectious disease research, thwart treatment efforts to those struggling with mental health and addiction, and impact the availability of vaccines to children, the elderly, and those living in rural communities.”
The HHS said the funds, totaling $11.4 billion, were primarily used for COVID-19 response, including testing, vaccination and hiring community health workers. Since the pandemic has ended, the HHS said the funds are no longer needed and would be rescinded.
The lawsuit argues the federal government does not have the legal authority to unilaterally rescind funding it already allocated, particularly when states have built essential health programs around the commitments.
McElroy wrote the states show a high likelihood of success because “Congress did not expressly limit the funds to COVID-19 related programs and services” and, importantly, “did not grant HHS authority to rescind or reallocate the funds, nor did it authorize such drastic action.”
