ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL ISSUES STATEMENT ON PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION BLOCKING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S UNLAWFUL TERMINATION OF OVER $600 MILLION IN FEDERAL PUBLIC HEALTH GRANTS

ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL ISSUES STATEMENT ON PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION BLOCKING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S UNLAWFUL TERMINATION OF OVER $600 MILLION IN FEDERAL PUBLIC HEALTH GRANTS

March 13, 2026

Chicago - Attorney General Kwame Raoul today issued the following statement after a federal court judge granted Raoul's motion for a preliminary injunction to enjoin the federal government from halting health-related funding to states and void the public health grant terminations that have already occurred.

Last month Raoul led attorneys general from California, Colorado and Minnesota in suing the Trump administration over the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) directive to target those states and unlawfully cut more than $600 million in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grants based on its policy disagreements with those states. The court previously granted a temporary restraining order in this case, which lasted 28 days.

"Thanks to the order we secured, hundreds of nurses, disease detectives and other essential public health workers will keep their jobs as we fight the Trump administration's unlawful attempt to terminate more than $600 million in health-related funding. This preliminary injunction means Illinois will continue to receive more than $100 million in CDC grant funding that protects Illinois children from lead poisoning, as well as testing for and treatments of HIV. This funding also allows Illinois and other states to track disease outbreaks, maintain and improve data systems, and collect basic public health data the CDC relies on.

"The Trump administration tried to cut the funding to punish Illinois and the other three Democrat-run states for standing up to the president's unrelated immigration policies. However, we will not be bullied into compliance. When the Trump administration tried to hold Illinoisans' health hostage to the president's unlawful demands, we fought back - and this order keeps this critical funding flowing while we continue the fight. I stand committed to defending against the Trump administration's continued unlawful directives intended to force us to implement immigration and other unrelated policies."

On Feb. 9, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified Congress of its intent to terminate CDC grant funding in those four states without providing any specific reasons. Cuts to Illinois' public health programs alone exceed $100 million. In their complaint, Raoul and the coalition allege that OMB's directive commanding agencies to cut funding, along with its implementation, violates the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act because it is arbitrary and capricious and exceeds the agencies' statutory authority.