Dem States Sue Over Health Grant Freeze02/12 06:18

   

   (AP) -- Four Democratic-led states that have become frequent targets of 
President Donald Trump sued Wednesday to try to block his administration from 
cutting off hundreds of millions in public health grants.

   The Department of Health and Human Services told Congress on Monday that it 
planned to withhold about $600 million in grant funding allocated to the four 
states: California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota. Their attorneys general 
argue the cuts are backlash for the states' opposition to Trump's immigration 
crackdown.

   The lawsuit says the cuts violate the Constitution by imposing retroactive 
conditions on funding and asks a federal court in Illinois to block them from 
taking effect.

   Some grants could be terminated as soon as Thursday, and others in the 
coming weeks, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said.

   Health officials have said the grants -- several focused on LGBTQ+ people 
and communities of color -- are "inconsistent with agency priorities" as the 
Trump administration has shifted away from supporting programs for specific 
populations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its 
priorities in September, dubbing health equity an "ideologically-laden" concept 
that "has undermined core American values."

   Health department officials did not immediately respond to requests for 
comment on the lawsuit.

   The administration also plans to pull hundreds of millions in transportation 
funding from the same four states.

   Courts have temporarily blocked similar efforts by the administration to 
restrict federal funds.

   A judge last week ruled that, for now, the administration cannot cut off 
billions in child care subsidies and other social service programs for 
lower-income people in those four states plus New York.

   Several of the largest planned health funding cuts are to programs aimed at 
preventing the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in 
Chicago and Los Angeles, with a focus on adolescents, ethnic minorities and gay 
men.

   Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called the funding cuts "a slap in the face" to 
public health leaders who have stepped up as the Trump administration "takes a 
sledgehammer to public health infrastructure."

   The administration is also targeting a $7.2 million grant for the 
Chicago-based American Medical Association, noting its support for 
gender-affirming care for minors, which a Trump executive order opposes.

   Other grants help the states track disease outbreaks and collect public 
health data that the CDC also uses.

   California faces the largest share of the planned cuts, which Attorney 
General Rob Bonta said will "irreparably harm" public health in the state.

   "President Trump is resorting to a familiar playbook. He is using federal 
funding to compel states and jurisdictions to follow his agenda," Bonta said. 
"Those efforts have all previously failed, and we expect that to happen once 
again."