COLUMBUS, Ohio — The city of Columbus announced Friday they’ve filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the Trump administration’s $11.4 billion in funding cuts to infectious disease programs.

What You Need To Know

  • The city of Columbus filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the Trump administration’s $11.4 billion in funding cuts to infectious disease programs

  • The money was to be distributed to public health institutions, including more than $3.1 million to Columbus Public Health

  • The city claims the Trump administration violated the Constitution and that HHS violated its own policy regarding canceling grants

  • As a result of the cuts, CPH had to fire 11 infectious disease workers 
  • This comes at a time when a small outbreak of measles cases have been reported in Ohio, with hundreds more reported across 30 states

Columbus city attorney Zach Klein said this funding was already approved by Congress. It was to be distributed to public health institutions, including more than $3.1 million to Columbus Public Health. Because of the cuts, CPH had to fire 11 infectious disease workers. This comes at a time when a small outbreak of measles cases have been reported in Ohio, with hundreds more reported across 30 states.

“This money is really important when it comes to public health and making sure that diseases don’t unnecessarily spread across our community, getting people sick and potentially causing death,” Klein said. “So this is a real-world problem, that money is being taken away from, we believe, illegally because the United States Congress has set aside this money, passed the law to appropriate the money, and now the president has taken it away.”

The cities of Nashville and Kansas City, as well as Harris County, Texas, joined Columbus in the lawsuit. 

In a statement, the U.S. The Department of Health and Human Services wrote why they cut the funding in the first place.

“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 department said. 

Klein said disease can spread quickly, as we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the roles of infectious disease employees are crucial at all times. 

“These roles are important for us to contain diseases to where they are so they don’t become pandemics in our community and get everyone sick. So, like, this is real money with real world solutions and when the money got turned off, that makes us at higher risk of getting sick, of spreading disease,” Klien said. “And that’s just not a goal of, at least for the city of Columbus. I can’t imagine it’s a goal for Washington, D.C. and that’s why it’s so hard to understand why Health and Human Services would turn off a grant to eliminate infectious disease funding.”

The city claims the Trump administration violated the Constitution, and that HHS violated its own policy regarding canceling grants. They’re hoping a federal judge will rule in their favor and give the grant the money back.