Attorneys general in 19 states and Washington, D.C., are like, totally challenging these cuts the U.S. Health and Human Services agency. They’re all like, “Yo, Trump administration, what’s up with destroying life-saving programs and leaving states to pick up the bill for health crises?” So, they filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington D.C. on Monday, and New York Attorney General Letitia James was all, “We ain’t having this, fam.”
The attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia were all like, “Sign us up for this complaint, yo.” They’re not messing around.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decided to restructure the agency in March, getting rid of more than 10,000 employees and collapsing 28 agencies under the HHS umbrella into 15, according to the attorneys general. And get this, an additional 10,000 employees had already been let go by President Donald Trump’s administration. Combined, these cuts stripped 25% of the HHS workforce. That’s a lot of people out of jobs.
The attorneys general were all like, “In its first three months, Secretary Kennedy and this administration totally deprived HHS of the resources necessary to do its job.” They’re not happy campers, that’s for sure.
Kennedy was all like, “I’m just trying to streamline the nation’s public health agencies and get rid of redundancies with these layoffs.” The cuts were part of this whole “Make America Healthy Again” directive the administration came up with. HHS is one of the government’s most expensive federal agencies, with an annual budget of about $1.7 trillion mostly spent on health care coverage for millions of peeps enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid.
But, because of these cuts, labs are having limited testing for some infectious diseases, the federal government isn’t tracking cancer risks among U.S. firefighters, early childhood learning programs are unsure about future funds, and programs monitoring cancer and maternal health are closing, the attorneys general say. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have also been hit hard, making it difficult for states to respond to measles outbreaks. It’s a mess.
The attorneys general were all like, “This chaos and abandonment of the Department’s core functions was not an unintended side effect, but rather the intended result of the ‘MAHA Directive.'” They want a judge to vacate the directive because the administration can’t just eliminate programs and funding created by Congress all willy-nilly.
The restructuring got rid of the whole team that maintains the federal poverty guidelines used by states to determine eligibility for Medicaid, nutrition assistance, and other programs. A tobacco prevention agency got gutted, and there were significant staff losses at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. It’s not looking good.
The Trump administration is already facing other legal challenges over cuts to public health agencies and research organizations. A coalition of 23 states filed a federal lawsuit in Rhode Island last month over the administration’s decision to cut $11 billion in federal funds for Covid-19 initiatives and various public health projects across the country. It’s like, lawsuits left and right.
Rebecca Boone reported from Boise, Idaho, and Amanda Seitz reported from Washington, D.C. They’re all over this story, trying to get to the bottom of what’s going on with these cuts and lawsuits. It’s a wild ride, that’s for sure.
