Dallas County has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking to recover millions in public health grants that were cut last year, The Dallas Morning News reported.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 5 in Washington, challenges the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) March decision to rescind more than $11 billion in COVID-era grants allocated by Congress to states and local governments.
Dallas County says the cuts disrupted programs that extend beyond the pandemic, including immunization clinics, laboratory testing, disease surveillance, and public health staffing.
“The abrupt, retroactive termination” of the grants, the lawsuit states, “threatens to halt ongoing and lifesaving public health work the county has relied on for years.” In April, Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Philip Huang said the federal cuts affected about $70 million across three grants, leading to the closure of pop-up immunization clinics and layoffs of 21 staff members.
HHS declined to comment directly on the lawsuit, citing a prior statement that the COVID-19 pandemic is over and that resources are being redirected toward chronic disease and broader health priorities.
County officials argue that the administration lacked authority to reclaim funds appropriated by Congress, which were intended to bolster long-term public health infrastructure and protect against future outbreaks. Federal judges have accepted similar arguments in other cases.
In May, a coalition of 23 Democratic-led states won a court injunction restoring some funding while their lawsuits move forward. Harris County and governments in Ohio, Tennessee, and Missouri also successfully challenged HHS cuts, including $20 million reinstated for Harris County in June.
Dallas County’s lawsuit, overseen by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, the same judge who presided over the Harris County case, targets HHS, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and CDC Acting Director Jim O’Neil. The complaint highlights the Infectious Disease Control Unit grant, which helped prevent the spread of communicable diseases through epidemiology, surveillance, and enhanced laboratory testing. It alleges that HHS illegally terminated grants nationwide “en masse” without evaluating individual jurisdictions.
County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins did not respond to a request for comment.
