![[CREDIT: Rob Borkowski] The U.S. Court in Providence. A Providence man will be sentenced July 24 for his admitted part in a Land Rover credit fraud scheme in RI & NH.](https://e8dgfhu6pow.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/US-Courthouse.jpg?strip=all&lossy=1&ssl=1)
![[CREDIT: Rob Borkowski] The U.S. Court in Providence. A RI U.S. Court judge has granted an injunction ordering the HHS to stop an $11B state health grants block, ruling the action usurps Congress.](https://e8dgfhu6pow.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/US-Courthouse-336x252.jpg?strip=all&lossy=1&ssl=1)
PROVIDENCE, RI — On May 16, a Rhode Island U.S. Court granted a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration’s seizure of Congressional power to halt an $11 billion public health grants block.
“HHS’ Public Health Funding Decision usurped Congress’s power to control these public health appropriations,” said United States District Judge Mary S. McElroy in her ruling granting Rhode Island and a coalition of 22 attorneys general a preliminary injunction — a temporary court order requiring HHS to reinstate the funds — while their case is pending.
March Health Grants Block Part of Wide-Ranging Trump Coup
On March 24, at the direction of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., HHS began its public health grants block of funds appropriated by Congress to health programs and services. The HHS began sending mass termination notices containing the same boilerplate explanation that “[t]he end of the pandemic provides cause to terminate COVID-related grants. Now that the pandemic is over, the grants are no longer necessary.”
Congress, which holds the authority to fund the grants, made no such statement or order.
The seizure of Congressional power is part of a now routine series of Constitution-defying moves in President Donald J. Trump’s coup angling for Congress’s Constitutional spending power, ignoring Judicial independence, and dismantling federal agencies.
In granting Rhode Island and its co-filing states the preliminary injunction, McElroy noted Congress reviewed its COVID-era spending in 2023, rescinding some appropriations it no longer saw as necessary.
“When undertaking this review in June 2023, Congress did not grant HHS authority to rescind or reallocate the funds, nor did it authorize such drastic action,” McElroy said in her ruling.
The funding left in place by Congress affects a wide range of the States’ public health programs and services. The HHS – terminated funds addressed infectious disease outbreaks, including rising threats like measles and H5N1 (avian influenza). They ensured access to immunizations among vulnerable populations. They fortified emergency preparedness for future public health threats. They provided mental health and substance abuse services. And they modernized critical public health infrastructure. Without the funds, these programs could not continue, McElroy wrote in her decision.
McElroy pointed out HHS has an obligation to expend the appropriated funds under legislative directives.
“Notably, in the CARES Act, Congress even outlined specific purposes for the appropriated funds to be used beyond the pandemic including public health data surveillance, infrastructure modernization, disease detection, and emergency response, and surveillance, epidemiology, laboratory capacity, infection control, mitigation, communications, and other preparedness and response activities. See CARES Act Title VIII, 134 Stat. 281, 554–555.”
Attorney General Neronha, who filed the preliminary injunction with the other attorneys general, pointed out a disconnect between Kennedy’s words and actions.
“If we don’t have our health, we don’t have anything, and that’s why today’s preliminary injunction is such a critical win,” said Neronha. “Earlier this week, Secretary Kennedy told Congress that he doesn’t think people should take medical advice from him, and yet by overseeing an attempt to eliminate billions in critical funding for essential public health initiatives, American people will live and die by his decisions.
I am grateful that this funding, which focuses on childhood vaccination and immunization, health disparities among high-risk and underserved populations, and laboratory testing capacity, among other initiatives, will again be available to our states. A hacksaw approach to government reduction will never yield positive results for the American people, and we will continue to fight, and win, in court to minimize the harm the Trump Administration is causing the people of this country,” Neronha said.
Neronha co-leads this lawsuit with Attorney General Phil Weiser of Colorado, Attorney General Rob Bonta of California, Attorney General Keith Ellison of Minnesota, and Attorney General Nick Brown of Washington. They are joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin. RI-States-V.-Kennedy-HHS
Author: Rob Borkowski
Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at editor@warwickpost.com with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.
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