Attorney General Tong Vows to Fight Unlawful Cancelation of More Than $12 Billion in Federal Public Health Funds to States

Press Releases

03/27/2025

Attorney General Tong Vows to Fight Unlawful Cancelation of More Than $12 Billion in Federal Public Health Funds to States

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong released the following statement vowing to fight more than $12 billion in unlawfully canceled public health funding to states, including more than $150 million to Connecticut alone.

“This is a reckless escalation of Donald Trump’s lawless war on American families and workers. We are coordinating with states across the country and will respond in court,” said Attorney General Tong. “He is robbing our nation of more than $12 billion to fight infectious disease, combat the opioid and addiction crisis, and support mental health when we’ve got measles and bird flu spreading, families wrecked by opioids and an unchecked surge of deadly fentanyl, and children in mental health crises lined up in emergency departments because we don’t have the services we need to support them. And where is all our money going? The stock market is tanking, basic family costs are surging, and people are losing their jobs across the country. The President seems bound and determined to make us sick, broke, and to put us in danger. He wants to defund healthcare, defund our savings, our retirement and Social Security, and he wants to defund the police. He just doesn’t care.”

This is the latest lawless effort by Trump to unilaterally rescind Congressionally-authorized funding to states. If he is successful, Trump will be responsible for countless Connecticut workers losing their jobs, not to mention the harm that thousands of Connecticut families will suffer. The impact of these cuts will be immediate and far reaching.

Attorney General Tong sued and secured a preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s first funding freeze issued in January impacting trillions of dollars to states across every aspect of government, including Head Start, Medicaid, and funding for police, highways, energy assistance and schools. This week, Attorney General Tong and 22 other attorneys general returned to court seeking to force the Trump administration to comply with that order and unfreeze essential funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Attorney General Tong has also sued and secured a preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s efforts to defund the National Institutes of Health and lifesaving medical and public health research.

Twitter: @AGWilliamTong

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Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov

Consumer Inquiries:

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