WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is set to terminate roughly $600 million in public health grants to four Democratic-led states, according to reporting from Reuters and Bloomberg News, marking a significant funding shift tied to federal health priorities under the Trump administration.
The affected states, California, Minnesota, Illinois, and Colorado, were notified that the grants no longer align with the department’s current objectives following an internal review. An HHS spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that the terminations are based on programmatic priorities rather than performance metrics.
Bloomberg News reported that the cuts include funding tied to HIV prevention, outbreak response, staffing, and public health infrastructure. In California alone, officials said nearly two-thirds of the affected funds had not yet been spent. Specific terminations include $7.2 million allocated to the American Medical Association in Illinois, $5.2 million to Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and $876,000 to the University of California, San Francisco’s Prevention Research Center.
The move follows a broader pattern of funding scrutiny. Last month, HHS briefly paused approximately $5 billion in public health infrastructure grants before reversing course within hours. Separately, the New York Post reported that President Donald Trump’s budget office directed multiple agencies to claw back more than $1.5 billion in funding from Democratic-led states over alleged mismanagement claims.
HHS distributed more than $11 billion in federal public health grants to states last year, much of it tied to COVID-19-era programs supporting mental health services, addiction treatment, and disease tracking. Congressional committees have been notified that the latest terminations will roll out over the coming weeks.
Sources
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