* WBEZ on Monday…
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is suing to block President Donald Trump’s administration from cutting off billions of dollars in federal funding to medical and public health institutions nationwide, a move that Chicago experts warn would have “catastrophic effects” on critical research.
Raoul announced the lawsuit Monday along with 21 other Democratic attorneys general who argue “cutting-edge work to cure and treat human disease will grind to a halt” if courts allow the Trump-led National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to slash grant funding. […]
The University of Illinois system relies on about $67 million in NIH funding annually — dollars that last year helped develop an updated drug to treat blood cancer in children, Raoul said. NIH grants “have led to innumerable scientific breakthroughs,” their lawsuit states.
This is the fourth multi-state lawsuit Raoul has joined since President Trump’s inauguration.
* Rich dug into Raoul’s lawsuit against the federal government’s funding freeze last month…
Last Monday night, the White House announced a sweeping new policy that would’ve at least temporarily defunded trillions of dollars of government spending on everything from the national school lunch program to Head Start to cancer and sleep disorders research, and on and on through 50 small-print pages. […]
The White House withdrew the order, but then the White House press secretary insisted that the cuts would still happen even without the directive. Another lawsuit, filed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and several colleagues from across the country, began to move forward.
That process came to a head on Friday when a federal judge issued a sweeping temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from doing anything that could reduce spending already approved by Congress. Judge John J. McConnell even quoted a ruling that Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh handed down when he was a circuit court judge, “even the President does not have unilateral authority to refuse to spend the funds.”
The state could similarly be in for years of court fights over this current federal-spending battle, and likely more in the future, while, as under Rauner, the institutions and people down below try to survive.
There’s no way that this state government can adequately plan for what might happen next because nobody knows what will happen next. I mean, who could’ve predicted perhaps the most aggressive challenge ever to the U.S. Congress’ constitutional-appropriations powers would be launched last week?
* On Monday, Peter Hancock asked Raoul how his office is handling the surge of lawsuits…
And while Raoul admits the cost of those cases is stretching the resources of his office, he said he is not yet ready to ask lawmakers for additional funding to cover those costs. […]
In an interview with Capitol News Illinois, Raoul said the volume of litigation has become so intense, he would like to add new attorneys who would focus solely on litigation battling the Trump administration.
“The role of state attorneys general has expanded from what it used to be. It has happened on both sides of the aisle,” Raoul said. “There’s been more involvement of state attorneys general, like during the Obama administration. Republican state attorneys general were very active trying to respond to the administration’s executive orders and suing over the Affordable Care Act and numerous other things. So during Trump’s first term, likewise, Democrat attorneys general were involved in trying to protect against federal executive branch overreach.”
Raoul noted that his office’s budget has grown since he was first elected attorney general in 2018. According to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, it has more than doubled in six years to just under $194 million in the current fiscal year.
Thoughts?
- VK - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 10:26 am:
Same thought as I have every time anyone in Illinois government tells me they are understaffed.
“You and everyone else my dude. Have you looked at IDFPR lately?”
- Norseman - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 10:29 am:
Money that will be well spent. I assume some of it will be contractual to address special expertise.
- Demoralized - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 10:45 am:
You need troops when you are at war.
- Who else - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 10:45 am:
I’d like to see this office be more aggressive in terms of what they’re willing to go after. Their litigation strategies are fairly contained and conservative.
If a beefed up workforce will mean they can step up and step into gaps in, for example, consumer protection and workers’ rights, then I’m all for it. Without a CFPB and a functioning USDOL, the AG’s office is the last stop in many ways. They tend to get territorial over the issues they have enforcement authority in, which is understandable given that it’s their bailiwick. But if they’re going to own these areas that means they need to actually engage aggressively to defend them.
If they really need more lawyers, that’s the cost of being a state in this version of the United States.
- old man poodle owner - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 10:46 am:
Did he just say he was not going to ask for a budget increase due to the budget hole?
- Original Rambler - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 10:58 am:
Not surprised. Not only do private firms raid the AG office for attorneys but so do higher paying state agencies. That being said, doubling in 6 years is a little shocking. I hope the retention rate has improved.
- Huh? - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 11:03 am:
I suggest the AG look to the various chief counsel offices in each state agency and have each state agency appoint at least 1 lawyer to support the AG for these lawsuits. Then start hiring new lawyers.
- Bigtwich - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 11:05 am:
==I suggest the AG look to the various chief counsel offices==
Those counsel work for the Governor.
- Ares - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 11:21 am:
The USDOJ just pulled job offers from a lot of new attorney hires in the longtime honors program - hire some of the people whose jobs were pulled. If the pre-POTUS 47 USDOJ was picking “the best of the best”, they would be more than up to AG Raoul’s task, and have an element of payback as further motivation.
- Amalia - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 11:31 am:
All the lawyers who work for the State of Illinois should have a brainstorming session. sure gov/AG but they are all in one quest…the best for our state. And look for pro bono from outside counsel. (they already make big money). apart from legal, every state entity needs to evaluate for cuts coming.
- West Sider - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 11:37 am:
If I am impoverished in defense of democracy- I will know I am wealthy indeed. Let’s roll- AG Raoul.
- Blue Dog - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 11:38 am:
The US spent $1.83 trillion more than it brought in last year. somethings gotta give.
- @misterjayem - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 11:41 am:
“The US spent $1.83 trillion more than it brought in last year.”
And if governments were for-profit enterprises, that would be very, very troubling.
– MrJM
- OneMan - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 11:43 am:
The words of Warren Zevon come to mind.
Get me out of this.
- Blue Dog - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 11:45 am:
I wish someone would have told Madigan government wasn’t a for-profit enterprise.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 11:46 am:
===The US spent $1.83 trillion more than it brought in===
Just spit balling ideas here, but maybe we shouldn’t give more tax breaks to billionaires and big business?
- Huh? - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 11:47 am:
“Those counsel work for the Governor.”
And who is the Attorney for the State of Illinois?
The AG has filed lawsuits on behalf of the Governor. It is in the best interest of the Governor to delegate members of the various Chief Counsel Offices to the AG.
- Blue Dog - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 11:47 am:
I would agree with $830 billion in tax hikes. and $1 trillion in reduced spending.
- Nope. - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 12:05 pm:
How much has the AG brought into the state in fines and penalties? When they testified last year it was something like 20$ returned for each grf dollar received. Totally worth the investment. What other agency brings in this much cash, that’s not a tax ?
- Jibba - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 12:27 pm:
Blue Dog- identify the cuts first and then we can talk. That’s the problem at both state and federal levels.
- Arsenal - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 12:29 pm:
==and $1 trillion in reduced spending.==
Can we start with the programs you use, or does someone else gotta take the hit?
- Dotnonymous x - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 2:01 pm:
- I wish someone would have told Madigan government wasn’t a for-profit enterprise. -
Tell Trump and President Musk?
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 2:11 pm:
Give the Attorney General everything he needs. Give him everything he asks for.
===somethings gotta give.===
Obviously taxing the rich people and the billionaires, right? That’s what’s going to give?
That’s what you mean, right?
- Norseman - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 2:12 pm:
=== The US spent $1.83 trillion more than it brought in last year. somethings gotta give. ===
In large part due to tax cuts which primarily benefitted the wealthy and hardly moved the needle on improving the economy. So to respond, MAGA world wants to pass another debt increasing tax cut for the wealthy while partially paying for it with illegal cuts to appropriated spending with little or no thought process on its impact on government services, national security and health care.
- Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 2:39 pm:
=== The US spent $1.83 trillion more than it brought in last year. somethings gotta give. ===
The last time the Federal budget had a surplus was a mere 24 years ago; it was the last Clinton budget. GWB’s first big fiscal move was a giant tax cut (mostly for the wealthy) which put us right back into deficit land. “Starve the Beast” was started under Reagan and is still a primary tool of conservatives. (Cut taxes to create a big deficit; use the deficit to justify deep program cuts.)
- SAW - Thursday, Feb 13, 25 @ 2:44 pm:
Total economic activity attributable to NIH grants in Illinois was ~$3.4 billion in 2023. Yes, we should spend more money on lawyers.
https://www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/UMR-NIHs-Role-in-Sustaining-the-US-Economy-2024-Update.pdf