Oregon AG Joins Lawsuit Against RFK Jr. Over ‘Assault On Well-being Of All Americans’ Caused By $12 Billion Health Grant Cuts
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield joined a coalition of 23 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia yesterday in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr) for abruptly and illegally terminating almost $12 billion in critical state public health grants.
In a statement, Rayfield said, “This is not just an attack on the states, it’s an assault on the well-being of every American.”
Oregon AG Responds To $12 Billion Health Grant Cuts
The state public health grant terminations, which came with no warning or legally valid explanation, have created chaos in state health agencies that rely on these critical funds for a wide range of urgent public health needs.
The grants are used for infectious disease management, emergency preparedness, mental health and substance abuse services, and modernizing public health infrastructure. Rayfield warned that RFK Jr’s cuts threaten states’ urgent public health needs as disease threats like measles and bird flu are increasing.
Health grants, which authorized and appropriated new and increased funding in COVID-19-related legislation to support critical public health needs, are from specific programs created by Congress.
RFK Jr’s agencies terminated these grants arbitrarily on March 24- with no legal authority or explanation, effective immediately, claiming that the pandemic is over and the grants are no longer necessary.
Rayfield joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, and the Governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island.
The AGs assert that the mass terminations violate federal law because the end of the pandemic is not a “for cause” basis for ending the grants. None of the appropriated funds are tied to the end of the pandemic, which happened over a year ago, and the AGs argue that the actions violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
The AGs are seeking a temporary restraining order to invalidate the mass grant terminations in the suing states and ask the court to prevent RFK Jr. from maintaining or reinstating them and any agency actions implementing them.