PHOENIX – Arizona joined a multistate lawsuit Tuesday in an effort to stop the Trump administration from rescinding billions of dollars in public health funding. The
suit was filed in the District of Rhode Island after federal health officials
recently announced they are pulling back $11.4 billion in funds allocated to state and local public health departments by Congress during the COVID-19 pandemic. The attorneys general from 23 states and the District of Columbia, including Arizona’s Kris Mayes, argued in the complaint the move is illegal and will result in “serious harm to public health.”
How do health funding cuts impact Arizona?
“By slashing these grants, the Trump administration has launched an all-out attack on Arizona’s public health system — harming the entire state, but hitting rural communities the hardest,” Mayes
said in a press release . “These cuts target the very places that rely most on this critical funding. Eliminating it would devastate our already precarious system and cost jobs across Arizona, from doctors to tribal health workers.”
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Mayes said the state stands to lose over $239 million in funding for public health. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, the cuts included
$190 million in grants earmarked for improving state’s infectious disease detection, response, prevention and control capabilities. In a statement last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the funding is a waste of taxpayer dollars for “a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.” Meanwhile, employees across the Robert F. Kennedy-led department
began receiving notices of dismissal on Tuesday in a major overhaul expected to ultimately lay off up to 10,000 people.
Arizona is involved in multiple lawsuits against Trump administration
Arizona is also part of a multistate lawsuit
filed in February in response to another move by the Trump administration involving public health. That effort is in opposition to the National Institutes of Health slashing certain payments to universities and other research institutions. Mayes, a Democrat, previously joined multistate legal efforts against the administration’s attempts to
end birthright citizenship and institute a sweeping
freeze of federal funding . In addition, Arizona is part of a lawsuit to prevent Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from
accessing federal payment systems .
The Associated Press contributed to this report. We want to hear from you.
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