Connecticut has joined 23 states, including New York and Rhode Island, in suing the Trump administration for cutting $11 billion in public health grants to the states.
The state’s Department of Public Health stands to lose about $175 million in funding, said Attorney General William Tong.
He said the money was for infectious disease surveillance, preparing for health emergencies, and mental health and substance abuse services at a time when diseases are on the rise.
“DPH would not be able to know when a new syndrome or new disease like bird flu is showing up in our emergency rooms. They won't be able to respond as quickly and as thoroughly to an outbreak. Newborn screening would be impacted,” Tong said.
“To willfully, as the President of the United States, put us at risk and make us unsafe is unconscionable, which is why we have to sue and hold this administration accountable,” Tong said.
The lawsuit has been filed in a federal court in Rhode Island. It asks the court to immediately stop Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary, from rescinding the money Congress allocated during the pandemic.
