Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha is among 20 attorneys general backing a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from making sweeping changes to the federal Health and Human Services Department and to restore cuts.
The complaint in U.S. District Court in Providence targets what Neronha called the Trump administration’s dismantling of HHS.
“A quarter of HHS’ staff — 20,000 employees — have been fired, half of the regional offices, including Boston — obviously of great importance to Rhode Island have been closed,” Neronha said Monday during a news conference in his office. “Functions like laboratory testing for disease, which only the federal government has the capability and the ability to do, have been abruptly terminated.”
Neronha said the changes are illegal since Congress, not the president or his cabinet, has the power to make them.
In Rhode Island, the state has lost $1.9 million in grants. The programs affected by HHS cuts include efforts addressing air quality, asthma, suicide prevention, maternal mortality, and nicotine and alcohol addiction.
“This dismantling of HHS has and will continue to harm Rhode Islanders in significant ways, including in ways that we can not yet foresee,” Neronha said.
The Trump administration has said it is targeting waste and fraud, and that cuts like those at HHS will represent more than $1 billion in savings for taxpayers.
Asked about that by a reporter, Neronha said, “These actions may save money, but they’re going to kill people. They’re not going to kill people like Donald Trump. He’s going to get the best healthcare in the world … Bottom line is, President Trump can go off to Cheyenne Mountain when he’s got a problem. The rest of us can’t.”
Neronha’s office said he is co-leading the lawsuit with Attorneys General Letitia James of New York and Nick Brown of Washington.
Also signing are AGs representing Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit calls on the court to stop the Trump administration’s cuts to HHS and restore changes already made.
On April 1, Neronha joined a group of AGs in a lawsuit against HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration for cuts to state health funding. A temporary restraining order issued by a judge on April 4 temporarily reinstated the funding.
