Public health officials are still reeling with the federal government cutting billions in grants, including $175 million for Connecticut.
Connecticut joined 23 other states and Washington, D.C., in a lawsuit to stop the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) from pulling back more than $11 billion in public health grants.
“We are in the fight of our lives,” Attorney General William Tong (D-Connecticut) said during a press conference at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
Tong and several Senate Democrats called the cuts, including $175 million to Connecticut, an “attack” to the state.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said the money had been for COVID-related programs that were no longer needed now that the pandemic is over.
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Democrats said the money did so much more, including funding for disease tracking, testing of newborns for rare conditions and mental health services.
“This is not just a government looking for savings, this is the federal government going for the jugular of its most vulnerable people,” Sen. Martin Looney (D-President Pro Tem) said.
Republicans called the lawsuit and press conference a continuation of Democrats fear-mongering. They questioned if the funding had deadlines or other conditions that allow the Trump administration to rescind it.
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“I think the Democrats in Connecticut want to distract people from what is going on here and want to join in a fight in D.C.,” Rep. Vincent Candelora (R-Minority Leader) said.
But Tong insists Trump didn’t have the authority to rescind funding approved by Congress.
This lawsuit marks at least eight Connecticut has filed against the administration since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Quinnipiac University Professor Wayne Unger said it’s common for attorneys general to sue the president over executive orders.
Trump, though, has been the target of more lawsuits than normal during his first two months.
Unger said that’s at least partial because some of Trump’s executive orders have attempted to take actions that are traditionally outside the president’s power.
“We typically say Congress has the power of the purse, Congress gets to decide what the federal budget looks like and where money goes,” Unger said as an example.
Tong previously sued to stop another Trump funding freeze. Other lawsuits also aim to stop Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship and enact layoffs at the Education Department.
The public health grant cuts come as lawmakers are working on a new two-year budget for the state.
Connecticut Democrats have also sounded the alarm about broader cuts in federal aid, including to Medicaid.
Candelora said lawmakers should wait for cuts to actually happen, noting Medicaid has not yet been impacted.
But Democrats said the cuts have started coming in – the Education Department also announced it will freeze $14 million to the state – and lawmakers need to consider alternatives.
Looney said that could include modifying the fiscal guardrails or using the state’s $4 billion budget surplus, often referred to as the rainy day fund.
“It's more than just a rainstorm, this is a hurricane, tsunami, this is the real deal,” he said.
