DELMARVA - Both Delaware and Maryland have joined 20 other states in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. over the cancellation of nearly $11 billion in public health grants.
The HHS said last week that the grant funding, first allocated during the COVID-19 pandemic, would cease because “the COVID-19 pandemic is over.” Kennedy’s HHS agencies argued the cancellations were “for cause” and the grants were no longer necessary.
Delaware and Maryland officials said notice of the grant cancellations came on March 25 and retroactively terminated HHS funding to states effective March 24. Both states claim the notices came without explanation.
“The Trump Administration is stealing $38 million from Delaware that goes directly towards funding key public health programs,” said Delaware Governor Matt Meyer. “Programs that provide targeted case management to prevent overdoses, mental health services to prevent suicides, and immunization programs that prevent deadly diseases like measles, polio, and tetanus.”
Meyer’s office says the slashed grants in Delaware support 62 full-time state merit positions and contracted staff employed by community providers. Specific grants include the Community Health Workers Grant, Immunization Grant, and the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Services Block Grant, according to Delaware officials.
Governor Meyer’s office says Delaware will support 30 days of continued work to mitigate the impacts of the cancellations and avoid immediate layoffs.
On April 1, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown announced Maryland was also joining the suit.
“The Trump Administration’s reckless and unlawful termination of $11 billion in critical public health grants is a dangerous assault on our State’s ability to protect our residents when infectious diseases like the measles or bird flu are on the rise,” Brown said in a press release Tuesday. “I am outraged that the President would cut this lifeline with zero warning, threatening to dismantle vital health services our communities depend on.”
Brown says Maryland will see a loss of about $200 million from the cancellations.
The lawsuit against the Trump Administration’s HHS was filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, with states arguing the cancellations were not made on a “for cause” basis as the funds were not tied to the end of the pandemic.
“HHS’ position, up until a few days ago, was that the end of the pandemic did not affect the availability of these grant funds,” AG Brown argued.
The lawsuit, including 22 states, seeks a temporary restraining order to block Secretary Kennedy’s and HHS’ grant termination, claiming the cancellations violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
The announcement of the grant cancellations comes as HHS Secretary Kennedy and DOGE lead a reorganization of the HHS, with 10,000 layoffs expected at the federal level.
The HHS “will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” an agency statement reads.