OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington is one of 24 states to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for “abruptly and illegally terminating $11 billion in critical public health grants to the states.”
The COVID-era funding covered grants linked to addiction care, mental health treatment and other programs. Attorney General Nick Brown says Washington is expected to lose $159 million from these cancellations.
“We can’t make America healthy by spreading preventable diseases,” Brown said. “Aside from the illegality of these actions, the administration is also choosing to neglect the biggest public health challenges, including substance abuse and mental health crises, facing our communities.”
Brown says the state’s Department of Health has already had to cancel its Care-A-Van mobile health clinics that provide health care to underserved communities.
HHS cut public health grants last month effective immediately, claiming the pandemic is over and the grants were no longer necessary.
The lawsuit claims the end of the pandemic is not a strong enough basis to end these grants “especially since none of the appropriated funds are tied to the end of the pandemic,” AG Brown states in a press release.
The Attorneys General of the states listed in the lawsuit want a temporary restraining order to stop the grant cuts, saying they violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
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