Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell is leading the charge with a coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia in a legal battle against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. after an unexpected slashing of $11 billion in public health grants. This coalition alleges that the funding, which had been earmarked for a broad scope of public health necessities ranging from emergency readiness to mental health services, was cut without a legal rationale or proper warning, as reported by the Massachusetts AG office.
The abrupt cancellation of these grants has thrown state health departments into disarray, coping with the shortfall of funds meant to underwrite crucial programs, such as vaccinations for children, mental health services not just for adults but for children as well, and in-house care for young people, along with trauma-informed care initiatives all of which now dangling in jeopardy without this financial lifeline. Massachusetts alone stands to lose approximately $118 million in previously awarded grant money. AG Campbell criticized the administration in no uncertain terms, "In a time when emerging public health threats like measles and bird flu are on the rise, the Trump Administration has unlawfully cut funding meant to address these issues, showing us once again that they do not care about the health and safety of our residents or country,” she stated in a release tied to the lawsuit.
The involved grants were part of the federal response to COVID-19, designed to back critical health initiatives, with Congress having signed off on new and increased budgets to cover these grants within pandemic-era legislation. Yet, on March 24, HHS abruptly terminated these funds, claiming the end of the pandemic as cause, a stance that contradicts previous HHS positions which affirmed the continued availability of funds irrespective of the pandemic's status. The coalition asserts that this sudden cutoff constitutes a breach of federal law since the termination of the pandemic does not provide a legal "for cause" basis for ending grants, especially those not tied exclusively to the duration of the pandemic.
The legal complaint, lodged in the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, seeks to upend Secretary Kennedy’s and HHS’s actionable terminations in the suing states, detailing violations to the Administrative Procedure Act; the AGs also demand the court block the defendants from maintaining or imposing these or similar cuts again in the future. AG Campbell has garnered support from a vast array of counterparts, including those from Colorado, California, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Washington, as well as the governors from Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
