The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has pulled back roughly $12 billion in federal grants that had been allocated to states during the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said on March 26.
HHS said the money was intended to be used for COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and other pandemic services. The agency began sending termination notices on Monday, according to a statement.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the statement read.
HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an email that the funds remain undisbursed.
Lawmakers and governors representing the affected states said the grants were intended not only for COVID-19 programs but also for tracking, preventing, and controlling other infectious diseases such as avian influenza and measles. States also used the funding to track mental health services and fund addiction treatment.
A spokesperson for the Lubbock, Texas, public health director said officials were ordered to cease work funded by three COVID-era grants allocated to responding to the growing measles outbreak there.
The Trump administration decision pulls more than $11 billion in funding that was granted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as roughly $1 billion awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a statement.
Murray said the cuts will see her state lose $160 million in federal funding for its health department, Native American tribes, and other groups. She asked the administration to reverse its cuts, saying it risks more than 200 jobs.
“Senselessly ripping away this funding Congress provided will undermine our state’s ability to protect families from infectious diseases like measles and bird flu and to help people get the mental health care and substance use treatment they need,” Murray said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the Trump administration told her office it would remove more than $300 million in grants for the state’s Department of Health, Office of Addiction Supports and Services, and Office of Mental Health. In a statement, Hochul vowed to fight “tooth and nail” against federal efforts to cancel the funding.
On Wednesday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s office said the state Department of Public Health and 97 local health departments saw $125 million in grants revoked. The office said the money was being used by the state for the prevention and control of infectious diseases, including avian influenza and measles.
Lori Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County & City Health Officials, said much of the funding was due to expire in six months.
“There’s no reason—why rescind it now? It’s just cruel and unusual behavior,” Freeman said.
She also noted that some of the funds had been implemented to address new public health concerns. Wastewater surveillance, she said, is one example of a COVID-era practice that has helped to detect other diseases.
“It was being used in significant ways to track flu and patterns of new disease and emerging diseases—and even more recently with the measles outbreak,” Freeman said.
News of the funds’ rescission comes as the Trump administration has announced a major restructuring of HHS to downsize the department.
“Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants,” Kennedy said. “This overhaul will be a win-win for taxpayers and for those that HHS serves. That’s the entire American public, because our goal is to Make America Healthy Again.”
