* The Associated Press…

A coalition of state attorneys general sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over its decision to cut $11 billion in federal funds that go toward COVID-19 initiatives and various public health projects across the country.

Attorneys general from 23 states filed the suit in federal court in Rhode Island. They include New York Attorney General Letitia James, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as well as attorneys general in California, Minnesota, North Carolina, Wisconsin and New York, as well as the District of Columbia.

The lawsuit argues the cuts are illegal and will result in “serious harm to public health” that will put states “at greater risk for future pandemics and the spread of otherwise preventable disease and cutting off vital public health services.”

The lawsuit asks the court to immediately stop the Trump administration from rescinding the money, which was allocated by Congress during the pandemic and mostly used for COVID-related efforts such as testing and vaccination. The money also went to addiction and mental health programs.

* From the lawsuit…

The Public Health Terminations exceed Defendants’ statutory and regulatory authority and are unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). The foreseeable end of the COVID-19 pandemic is not a lawful basis to terminate “for cause.” Defendants have never alleged, much less demonstrated, any failure by fund recipients to comply with the applicable terms and conditions of the grants and agreements. Nor did Congress limit the funding at issue here to the period of the COVID-19 emergency. During the pandemic, Congress made wide-ranging public health investments extending beyond COVID-19 and the immediate public health emergency. And after the pandemic was declared over, Congress reviewed the COVID-19 related laws, rescinded $27 billion in funds, but determined not to rescind any of the funding at issue here.

The Public Health Terminations also violate the APA because they are arbitrary and capricious, for reasons including:

- assuming, with no legal or factual support, that all appropriations in COVID-19 related laws were only intended for use during the pandemic, when the relevant statutes indicate the opposite; failing to undertake any individualized assessments of the grants or cooperative agreements, including any analysis of the benefits of this public health funding or the dire consequences of termination;
- ignoring the substantial reliance interests of Plaintiff States (and their local health jurisdictions) and the tremendously harmful impact of immediately terminating, without any advance warning, billions of dollars in congressionally appropriated funds midstream;
- asserting that this public health funding was suddenly unnecessary due to the “end of the pandemic” —an event that occurred almost two years ago;
- failing to explain HHS’s sudden change in position regarding availability of funds;
- and arbitrarily misapplying a “for cause” termination provision.

Rich is planning a broader piece on the importance of the APA to many of these cases, but click here for a little background.

* Attorney General Kwame Raoul…

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.

* Related…

* AP | Layoffs begin at US health agencies responsible for research, tracking disease and regulating food: The layoffs are expected to shrink HHS to 62,000 positions, lopping off nearly a quarter of its staff — 10,000 jobs through layoffs and another 10,000 workers who took early retirement and voluntary separation offers. Many of the jobs are based in the Washington area, but also in Atlanta, where the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based, and in smaller offices throughout the country.