LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it was taking back $11 billion in public health infrastructure grants. The federal government ended the COVID public health emergency on May 11, 2023.

“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,” the CDC said in a statement.

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However, Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel, along with attorneys general from 23 other states, filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking a temporary restraining order against the CDC’s action.

Judge Mary S. McElroy in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island blocked Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from clawing back the $11 billion nationwide, of which $379.3 million was earmarked for Michigan.

“President Trump and Secretary Kennedy have pledged to ‘Make America Healthy Again,’ while cutting critical support for infectious disease control, substance abuse treatment, vaccination clinics, mental health services, and many more treatments that Americans rely upon for their everyday health and well-being,” Nessel said in a press release. “These cuts were not just ill-timed and illegal, they are antithetical to the very mission of the Department of Health and Human Services. I am grateful for the swift decision by Judge McElroy, which will undoubtedly have a positive impact on Michiganders’ lives.”