Democrat Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a suit against HHS over cutting public health grants to states. (Getty Images)
Those public health grants, amounting to $12 billion, were earmarked for states during the COVID-19 pandemic for testing and vaccinations. The HHS justified the cuts because 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."
HHS Director of Communications Andrew Nixon said in a media statement last week that "HHS is prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump’s mandate to address our chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again."
However, Mayes, alongside 23 other Democratic state attorneys general, argue the cuts will impact the health of their states.
"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. These cuts target the very places that rely most on this critical funding," Mayes said. "Eliminating it would devastate our already precarious system and cost jobs across Arizona, from doctors to tribal health workers. I will fight this every step of the way."
RFK JR BACKS WV PUSH FOR SNAP WAIVERS, WORK MANDATES UNDER ‘MAHA’
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued major cuts to HHS agencies and programs. (Getty Images)
On Tuesday, federal health employees began receiving notices of termination. The Associated Press also reported there were lines wrapped around the HHS building of employees trying to find out whether they still had a job.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
According to the HHS, the layoffs "will save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year" and "streamline" functions of the department while ensuring that essential services like Medicare and Medicaid continue without disruption.
"We aren't just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic," the HHS secretary said in a statement. "This Department will do more – a lot more – at a lower cost to the taxpayer."
Jamie Joseph is a U.S. Politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering transgender and culture issues, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, and stateside legislative developments.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-ags-take-trump-kennedy-hhs-court-over-cuts-covid-era-grants