President Donald Trump's administration must put the brakes onslashing billions in federal money for public health departments, a federal judge said Friday. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy in Rhode Island granted the preliminary injunction request in the lawsuit brought last by a coalition of Democrat-led states. She had granted a temporary restraining order last month in the case. The lawsuit filed April 1by 23 states and the District of Columbiasought to immediately halt$11 billion in cuts, alleging that it would decimate public health infrastructure across the country. The money, allocated by Congress during the pandemic, supported COVID-19 initiatives andmental health and substance abuseefforts. The injunction only applies to the states involved in the lawsuit. The federal government must file documentation that they're complying with the order by Tuesday evening. Health departments across the country have said they've laid off employees after the Trump administration began to clawback the money in late March. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
