Municipalities Unite to Fight Unlawful Budget Cuts

MUNICIPALITIES UNITE TO FIGHT UNLAWFUL BUDGET CUTS!

YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS!

A coalition of major municipalities, including Harris County, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee; and Kansas City, Missouri, along with public service workers represented by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) are uniting to challenge unlawful budget cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that will cancel grants the municipalities rely on to protect people from infectious diseases and pandemics.

THIS IS A BIG DEAL!

The municipalities filed suit today in District Court for the District of Columbia, and the case is Harris County et. al v. Kennedy et. al. Nashville and Davidson County, Kansas City, and Columbus are represented by Democracy Forward and the Public Rights Project. AFSCME is also represented by Democracy Forward. Harris County is represented by Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

The pandemic exposed just how urgently we need strong public health systems. In response, Congress stepped up — delivering crucial funding to local health departments to track, prepare for, and fight infectious diseases. But now, this administration is sidestepping the law and withholding taxpayer dollars meant to protect our communities so they can hand out massive tax breaks to billionaires. AFSCME members are on the front lines, vaccinating, educating and saving lives every single day. These actions threaten their ability to tackle threats like the flu and measles and jeopardize public health. We are filing this lawsuit with our partners because that funding belongs to our neighborhoods, not the ultra-rich.

HARRIS COUNTY IS ON THE FRONT LINES!

Harris County was set to receive funds to support critical public health services—programs that help us detect and prevent disease outbreaks, run vaccination clinics, and keep our residents healthy. The Trump administration doesn’t get to override Congress just because it wants to score political points. This funding is the backbone of our local public health response – especially during disease outbreaks. You don’t get to break the law just because you don’t like how Congress spent the money.

COLUMBUS IS FIGHTING BACK!

The Trump administration’s termination of billions of dollars in infectious disease funding is both dangerous and unconstitutional. Cities cannot stay quiet on the sidelines as extremists within this administration continue to defy the constitution and recklessly endanger the health and safety of our children and the public. That’s why we’re in the arena fighting to see this funding released as Congress intended—so that health departments can do their jobs and prevent needless deaths of children and our most vulnerable from outbreaks of deadly diseases like measles.

NASHVILLE IS FEELING THE PAIN!

The federal government’s mass termination of local health programs has caused an immediate disruption in life-saving health care services. Metro Nashville joined this lawsuit because the federal government’s unlawful termination of health programs has forced layoffs of Health Department employees, termination of lab testing for infectious disease, including lab tests where the patient is waiting on a result, elimination of programs for childhood vaccination, and more. We were on the verge of providing these life-saving services to our unhoused population but that initiative is halted in its tracks.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS PLAYING WITH FIRE!

On March 24, 2025, President Trump and controversial anti-science HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unlawfully eliminated the congressionally-appropriated federal grants under Centers for Disease Control’s COVID-19 related grant programs, which provide more than $11 billion worth of federal grants to local municipalities for the vital public health work of identifying, monitoring, and addressing infectious diseases; ensuring access to necessary immunizations, including immunizations for children; and strengthening emergency preparedness to avoid future pandemics.

THIS IS UNCONSCIONABLE!

Cancelling programs that seek to prevent the spread of infectious diseases – in the middle of active pandemics – is not just unconstitutional, it is unconscionable. The Trump administration’s destructive agenda threatens to deprive residents of essential public health services in the midst of continuing dangers posed by COVID-19 and other diseases, including a deadly measles outbreak centered in Texas that has spread to Ohio, Tennessee, and other states across the country. The stakes here are real and immediate. Democracy Forward is honored to work with the Public Rights Project and Harris County to represent these municipalities, which are fighting to preserve crucial and life-saving public health efforts.

OUR GOVERNMENT PARTNERS ARE SCRAMBLING!

Our government partners have been left scrambling to fill gaps from the loss of vital local initiatives. These grants were more than a response to the pandemic — they were investments in the people and programs that keep our communities healthy every day.

BIZARRELY, THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS CANCELING GRANTS FOR DISEASES THAT ARE STILL SPREADING!

The reasoning offered by the Trump administration for canceling the grants was the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the programs canceled were not limited to work on COVID-19, and include work to stop outbreaks of avian flu and measles, two infectious diseases currently spreading in American neighborhoods.

YOU NEED TO STAY INFORMED!

Please find the full complaint here.

DEMOCRACY FORWARD IS ON THE CASE!

Democracy Forward is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.