LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)– Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined 23 states in suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Sec. Robert F. Kennedy for terminating nearly $11 billion in “critical” public health grants nationwide, including $379.3 million in grant funding awarded and owned to Michigan.
The terminated grant funding includes:
- A mental health grant to support services for Michiganders suffering from serious mental illness or severe emotional disturbances, including children’s services.
- A substance abuse grant to enhance substance use disorder services for underserved and marginalized populations, including pregnant women, women with young children, opioid users, and rural populations.
- CDC funding for the control of infectious diseases that was funding laboratory upgrades statewide, throughout both peninsulas, and without which the MDHHS’s and local health departments’ capacity to respond to healthcare-associated infections in healthcare facilities is effectively eliminated.
- And CDC grants for the immunization and vaccination of children that were being used for vaccine ordering and storage, hosting vaccine clinics, and supporting translation services for vaccination information to non-English speaking parents and patients. The State was due a remaining balance of $49 million toward these awards and intended to use part of these funds to provide routine immunizations and immunizations against seasonal respiratory viruses to children, adults, and vulnerable and underserved populations.
The Office of the Attorney General says MDHHS staff and affiliates rely on these federally promised funds to perform critical public health services and activities throughout the state.
“The Trump administration is now terminating millions in grants being used in our state to support vaccine clinics for kids, crisis mental health services, opioid abuse intervention, and to control disease spread in healthcare facilities,” said Attorney General Nessel in a news release sent to 6 News. “And once again they’re breaking the law to take money that has been granted to the states. These programs keep Michigan healthy and, in some cases, help save lives, and that’s worth standing up and fighting for.”
In the lawsuit, the coalition of attorneys general seeks a temporary restraining order to invalidate Sec. Kennedy’s and HHS’s mass grant termination in the litigating states, which argues the actions violated the Administrative Procedure Act…