Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey has joined a coalition of twenty-three states in suing Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the termination of approximately $11 billion in federal COVID-era grants, $91 million of which had been earmarked for Maine.
In March, the Trump Administration cancelled and revoked $11.4 billion worth of COVID-era funding that had originally been scheduled to run through September of this year.
A spokesperson for the DHHS explained to NPR why the Department believed it made sense to freeze funding at this juncture.
“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 said. It went on to add that the Trump Administration will refocus funding on America’s “chronic disease epidemic.”
The spokesperson also suggested that the funding was linked to outdated pandemic-era programs designed to “address COVID-19 health disparities among populations at high-risk and underserved, including racial and ethnic minority populations.”
Similar sentiments were expressed by DHHS Director of Communications Andrew Nixon in a statement announcing the revocation last month.
“HHS is prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump’s mandate to address our chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again,” Nixon said.
According to NBC News, notices of termination sent to grantees Monday also offered this as an explanation for the Department’s decision.
“Now that the pandemic is over, the grants and cooperative agreements are no longer necessary as their limited purpose has run out,” the notices said.
An email shared by leadership from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Tuesday and obtained by NBC News indicated that the now-reclaimed funds were primarily used for COVID testing, vaccination, community health workers, initiatives to address disparities among high-risk and underserved populations, and other COVID-related projects around the world.
The email went on to explain that the CDC reviewed a list of COVID-era programs being funded and identified those that they felt were no longer needed.
A press release published by Attorney General Frey’s Office Monday suggests that the termination of these grants “came with no warning or legally valid explanation.”
“If the funding is not restored, important state public health programs and initiatives will have to be dissolved or disbanded, including programming impacting vaccine distribution and disease monitoring and response and rural health services, among others,” the statement reads.
“The HHS cuts threaten the urgent public health needs of states around the country at a time when emerging disease threats—such as measles and bird flu—are on the rise,” it adds.
Frey goes on to explain that the many of these grants were appropriated by Congress via pandemic-related legislation to support public health, including mental health and substance abuse and addiction services.
“Congress authorized and appropriated new and increased funding for these grants in COVID-19-related legislation to support critical public health needs,” Frey said. “Many of these grants are from specific programs created by Congress, such as block grants to states for mental health and substance abuse and addiction services.”
“Yet, with no legal authority or explanation, Secretary Kennedy’s HHS agencies on March 24 arbitrarily terminated these grants ‘for cause’ effective immediately claiming that the pandemic is over and the grants are no longer necessary,” he explained.
As a result of this lawsuit, Frey and the other attorneys general are seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent mass grant termination in the participating states on the grounds that it represents a violation of the federal Administrative Procedures Act.
These states are also hoping to have the court prevent the DHHS from “maintaining or reinstating the terminations and any agency actions implementing them.”
The suit is led by Attorney General Phil Weiser of Colorado, Attorney General Rob Bonta of California, Attorney General Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Attorney General Peter Neronha of Rhode Island, and Attorney General Nick Brown of Washington.
In addition to Maine, they are joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Oregon, and Wisconsin, and the Governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
Click Here to Read Attorney General Frey’s Full Press Release
Emergency-emergency!!! This is the money mills was planning to use to bail out the state after her mismanagement. Oh the humanity. Bankruptcy in 5..4..3..2..
Covid funds are not a slush fund you little pipsqueak Frey. If the court decrees that the funds can’t be clawed back then they must also mandate that the funds be used for Covid19 use only. No re-appropriations.
Maine’s crack whore dependence on the crack rock of federal $$$ has ALWAYS been an embarrassment.
Does Frey do anything other than tag along with other peoples law suits ?
He really is a loser .
Predictable. Janet and her commie pals demand more of other people’s money to support her imported ILLEGAL ALIENS to insure an automatic constituency that is lavished with entitlements to guarantee re-election of
ideological DEI people.
“I am patient with stupid people but not with those who are proud of it.”
Edith Sitwell
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Just a waist of my tax money.
Janet “SEE YOU IN COURT” Mills will be battling one lawsuit after another. This is just the start.
The money mills and her cronies have relied on for their pet projects. The free everything for illegals is going to be harder to pay for without all that federal funding for Covid.
All the money was to be used to cover the expenses of the illegal ferals that have invaded Maine.
Wow, dems are losing all their spending money… you know, borrow from Peter to pay Paul, Now what mills? (and Cronies?)
Hard to push propaganda without funding
How much of OUR money is this soy boy spending on these lawsuits that we did not ask for?
The state is already supporting illegals that we never voted to allow and were never asked to donate to
Clowns running Maine