US health secretary and agency sued by 23 states and DC over $11bn funding cut

Lawsuit alleges department's ending of wide array of grants is unlawful' and poses serious harm to public health'

Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia are suing the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, alleging the abrupt terminations of $11bn in public health funding were harmful" and unlawful".

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Rhode Island, says that in March 2025, HHS unexpectedly ended a wide array of grants supporting immunizations, infectious disease tracking, and mental health and substance abuse services. The federal government justified the cuts by claiming that the funds were no longer necessary" because their limited purpose" had ended along with the Covid-19 pandemic.