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By Jack Queen
(Reuters) -A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from cutting more than $11 billion in public health grants allocated to U.S. states during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy in Rhode Island bars the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its agencies from implementing the cuts while the litigation plays out. The grant funding was used by states to track, prevent and control infectious diseases, including measles and bird flu, as well as track mental health services and fund addiction treatment.
Judge McElroy ruled from the bench after an hourlong hearing and said she would follow up with a written order to include further details.
The case was filed by Democratic attorneys general of Colorado, Rhode Island, New York and 19 other states and the District of Columbia.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said Trump’s cuts were illegal and impacted vital state health funding in a social media post following the ruling.
The states said in their April 1 complaint that the Trump administration lacked authority to unilaterally claw back funding the states had already built health programs around.
“Despite the critical importance of these programs, HHS terminated them with the stroke of a pen and for the flimsiest of reasons,” the states said, adding that the cuts caused “immediate chaos and irreparable harm” to their local health authorities.
The slash in funding was the latest wave of cuts to be overseen by new Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The department said the funds were largely used for COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and other responses to the pandemic in announcing the termination of the grants.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago," the department said at the time.
The funding included money from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for pandemic preparedness, overdose prevention and community health programs, and from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for addiction treatment and suicide prevention.
(Reporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
