The Trump administration is facing a lawsuit from nearly two dozen states over its decision to rollback billions of dollars in public health funding.

On Tuesday (April 1), Democratic attorneys general and governors in 23 states and Washington, DC sued the US Department of Health and Human Services and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr after the agency announced that it was cutting $11.4 billion in funds allocated to state and community health departments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, per CNN.

Last week, HHS said it would start recovering the funds in roughly 30 days. An additional $1 billion from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration was also terminated.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago. HHS is prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump’s mandate to address our chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again,” the agency said in a statement last week, announcing the funding cuts.

The lawsuit argues that the eliminated funds weren't only intended for COVID-19 response but rather to support public health in the longterm as well as for pandemic preparedness and behavioral health services, including addiction treatment and suicide prevention.

Funding cuts will end key public health services and eliminate thousands of jobs for health-care workers, the lawsuit states.

“Slashing this funding now will reverse our progress on the opioid crisis, throw our mental health systems into chaos, and leave hospitals struggling to care for patients,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose state is set to lose more than $400 million in public health funding, said in a statement.

The funds were also building the framework for better health responses in the future, including for outbreaks like the measles and H5N1 bird flu.

“This funding was appropriated by Congress and obligated to health departments with work plans, budgets, and timelines approved by federal agencies,” Dr. Joseph Kanter, CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said in a statement last week.

“With congressional and executive branch support, these funds were being used to modernize data systems, bolster laboratory capacity, improve electronic case reporting of time-sensitive infectious disease outbreaks, improve H5N1 and measles testing, and enhance biomedical terrorism preparedness, to name just a few examples,” he said. “We worry the abrupt loss of these activities will impair states and territories in their ability to respond to current and future threats.”

The lawsuit is accusing the administration of undermining the constitutional power of Congress, which allocated the funds. The coalition of states behind the suit is seeking a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief to immediately stop the administration's plans to cut funding.

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