Federal Judge Blocks HHS From Terminating Health Funding for 4 Municipalities

The Department of Health and Human Services had argued that it terminated the funding because the pandemic is already over.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at the Hubert H. Humphrey building in Washington on April 28, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from cutting public health funding for four municipalities and ordered that their funding be restored.

In a 42-page memorandum opinion, District Judge Christopher Cooper granted a preliminary injunction requested by four local governments—Harris County, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Davidson County and Nashville, Tennessee; and Kansas City, Missouri.

The municipalities and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed the lawsuit in April, requesting the court to prevent the funding from being terminated nationwide.

However, Cooper stated in his opinion that the preliminary injunction would apply only to the four municipalities involved in the case.

According to court filings, the funding was issued during the COVID-19 pandemic to support public health efforts such as infectious disease surveillance, immunization outreach, and emergency preparedness to prevent future pandemics.

HHS said it terminated the funding because the pandemic is already over, adding that the grants and cooperative agreements were no longer needed as “their limited purpose has run out.”

The four local governments were still owed about $32.7 million when the grants were terminated, according to the court’s ruling.

Cooper determined that the funding provisions “were not expressly tied to the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic,” and that Congress had authorized the funds to remain available until fully expended.

“The executive branch, in other words, cannot decline to spend congressionally appropriated funds simply because it prefers not to spend them,” the judge stated.

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee praised the judge’s decision, calling it “a win” for Harris County residents and public health departments across the country.

“The federal government cannot simply ignore Congress and pull the plug on essential services that communities rely on,” Menefee said in a statement.

“This decision restores stability for our public health system and reaffirms that Congress, not unelected bureaucrats, decides how public dollars are spent,” he added.

Menefee’s office stated that the funding cuts affected Harris County Public Health’s wastewater surveillance efforts, as well as an initiative designed to ensure low-income residents have access to health care, food assistance, and other essential services.

According to the statement, the termination also put mobile vaccination clinics at risk and hindered the county’s ability to track more than 80 infectious diseases, including measles and tuberculosis.

HHS did not return a request for comment by publication time.

The department also faced legal challenges from a coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia, which sought to prevent HHS from cutting more than $11 billion in public health funding.

District Judge Mary McElroy agreed last month to issue a preliminary injunction, temporarily halting the funding cuts. HHS had argued that the grants were no longer necessary because the pandemic had ended.