States Sue HHS to Try to Stop Withholding of $600 Million in Public Health Grants

Four states on Feb. 11 asked a federal court to stop the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from cutting $600 million in public health funding. The Trump administration has targeted the states—California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota—because of “political animus and disagreements about unrelated topics such as federal immigration enforcement, political protest, and clean energy,” the states said in a 26-page lawsuit, filed with the U.S. District Court in northern Illinois. President Donald Trump has said that agencies should stop paying sanctuary cities, and the Office of Management and Budget has said that it directed health officials to withdraw the $600 million from the states....