Judge Halts $600M Health Grants Cut to 4 States

A federal judge in Chicago temporarily halted the Trump administration's plan to withhold $600 million in public health grants from California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota on Thursday, ruling that the states are likely to prevail in their claim that the cuts were motivated by retaliation over their opposition to federal immigration policies.

U.S. District Judge Manish Shah issued a 14-day temporary restraining order after the four Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging the Department of Health and Human Services' decision to terminate the funding. The grants, administered through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, support programs for disease surveillance, outbreak response, HIV prevention and sexually transmitted infection control, with a focus on vulnerable populations including LGBTQ individuals, adolescents, ethnic minorities and gay and bisexual men. In Illinois alone, the cuts threatened more than $170 million, including $86 million for the state health department and $61 million for the Chicago Department of Public Health, funding efforts like lead poisoning prevention and 674 public health jobs across local agencies.