Pa. joins multistate lawsuit against Trump Administration

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Pennsylvania has joined a multistate lawsuit with 22 other states and the District of Columbia against the Trump Administration.

Governor Josh Shapiro announced the lawsuit to protect public health in Pennsylvania after the Trump Administration abruptly and arbitrarily canceled more than half a billion dollars in public health grants for Pennsylvania state agencies. Trump’s cancellation directly impacts work to prevent the spread of infectious diseases (including Hi-Path Avian Influenza [HPAI] and measles), ensure access to immunizations, provide mental health and substance abuse services and improve long-term care for older Pennsylvanians.

“The federal government broke its half billion-dollar contract with the commonwealth and as a result of this unlawful action, is undermining our ability to protect the health of Pennsylvania’s children and families,” Shapiro said in a statemen. “It is my job to defend the taxpayers of this commonwealth, and this is funding owed to the people of Pennsylvania.

“But the Trump Administration abruptly canceled Congressionally appropriated federal funding that supports critical Pennsylvania-based initiatives like infectious disease prevention, long-term care for our seniors, and immunizations for children. When I sign a legally-binding agreement, I follow through with it – and with today’s action, I’m just asking our federal government to do the same,” added Shapiro.

The lawsuit is co-led by Colorado, Rhode Island, California, Minnesota, and Washington and joined by Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notified the Commonwealth on March 25 that the CDC was abruptly terminating funding for multiple critical public health grants. These terminations cut more than half a billion dollars legally owed to the Pennsylvania departments of Health (DOH), Human Services (DHS), and Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP), and impact funding that supports over 150 commonwealth employees and contracted staff.

The federal government entered a contract with these commonwealth agencies with the promise to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in funding appropriated by Congress for critically important public health programs approved by the CDC and by the General Assembly. The Trump Administration is unlawfully breaking its contract with the commonwealth with this funding cut.

Shapiro filed a lawsuit recently challenging the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional freeze of federal funding. As a result of the lawsuit and direct pressure on and engagement with the Trump Administration, all $2.1 billion in Congressionally appropriated federal funding identified at the time of filing his lawsuit is once again accessible to Pennsylvania state agencies.

According to a release, the contracts unlawfully canceled last week are critical to the ongoing public health work across state agencies. The cuts at DOH will impact efforts to identify, track and respond to the spread of infectious diseases – like HPAI threatening Pennsylvania farms – and directly threaten the Department’s ability to ensure Pennsylvania children and underserved, hard-to-reach communities have access to immunizations for preventable diseases like measles.

The cuts at DHS will affect the agency’s ability to help counties and local providers efficiently serve extremely vulnerable individuals who are experiencing severe mental health conditions and limit the amount of technical assistance and training available to providers.

The terminated grants at DDAP mean Pennsylvania won’t be able to allocate money to local treatment authorities for substance use disorder intervention, treatment and recovery services.

This federal funding was also set to be used for renovations to DOH’s state public health laboratory to address major safety concerns. Cutting this funding will reduce Pennsylvania’s ability to conduct timely, accurate, and safe testing – potentially shutting down important testing for diseases like influenza, HPAI, and rabies.

Per the release, the unlawful cuts by the Trump Administration weaken Pennsylvania’s immunization registry, leading to local vaccine clinics being unable to provide vaccines for preventable diseases like measles and increasing the spread of these diseases, and health care providers will not be able to report vaccinations or look up patients’ vaccine records.

Funding loss also means a stop to critical services for the disability community, including work to build partnerships between health care providers, community organizations and government entities to improve the well-being of people with disabilities. The cuts further impact research on the inaccessibility of medical equipment for people with disabilities in health care settings.

The Trump Administration’s cuts terminate the Long-Term Care RISE program which improves quality care for residents in nursing homes, personal care homes, and assisted living facilities by providing funding to local county and municipal health departments to enhance workforce capacity, surveillance methods and infection prevention.