Nashville has sued Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over recent “devastating” public health funding cuts the city argues are unconstitutional.
The lawsuit alleges the sweeping, unilateral nature of the abrupt cuts were illegal and lack Congressional approval, despite the fact the funds had previously been reviewed and approved by Congress.
“Secretary Kennedy and HHS have exceeded their constitutional authority,” Metro’s Legal Director Wally Dietz said in a statement to The Tennessean. “It does not matter if these grants do not fit with the new President’s views. They were authorized by Congress and the funds were appropriated by Congress. If the new federal government wishes to change these grants, they must go to Congress to change the law. We do not have a king.”
Kennedy happened to be in Nashville on April 24, the day the lawsuit was filed, speaking about his recovery from addiction at a convention.
Nashville joined three other local governments and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in filing the lawsuit in a Washington D.C. federal court. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in addition to its director, are also named plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks to reverse the HHS decision and reinstate the grant programs.
On March 23, HHS abruptly razed $11 billion in public health funding as part of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to cut down government spending.
More: As DOGE cuts federal funds, Tennessee departments balk at releasing details of lost money
The Trump administration has characterized the funds as COVID-era funding that should be sunset. But the grants supported broader public health initiatives beyond the pandemic, and Nashville’s lawsuit argues Congress had repeatedly reviewed and renewed some of the grants well after the height of the pandemic.
The Tennessee Department of Health, through which the majority of the grant money flows to Tennessee communities, has refused to answer repeated inquiries about how much money the state stands to lose and what public health programs the funds support. State officials have claimed the cuts will not impact services to Tennesseans, though a DOGE database revealed the state stands to lose grants totaling $224 million in the cuts.
“Nothing in the Constitution empowers agencies—or the President—to usurp Congress’s exclusive power of the purse and refuse to spend appropriated funds for the purposes Congress specified,” the lawsuit states. “Second, Defendants’ actions violate Congress’s appropriation statutes, which make no mention of termination upon the conclusion of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Indeed, Congress’s actions after the emergency was declared over indicate that Congress did not want the funding to end in the way Defendants terminated it.”
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell in early April said there could be direct impacts at the Metro Health Department, highlighting a program that helps expectant and young mothers and an HIV/AIDS intervention program.
The lawsuit cites cuts to a child vaccination program and states Nashville Public Health lost funding for 16 positions, including six new jobs it was hiring for a homeless services program that has now been shuttered. Nashville had to lay off three employees.
Metro has already taken legal action against the Trump administration. In March, Nashville signed on to a lawsuit seeking to halt the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze on Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act grants.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville sues feds over extensive public health funding cuts