Democratic-led states sue to stop Trump from withholding $600M in health grants

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Democratic-led states sue to stop Trump from withholding $600M in health grants

2026-02-12 12:22 Last Updated At：12:55

Four Democratic-led states that have become frequent targets of President Donald Trump sued Wednesday to try to block his administration from cutting off hundreds of millions in public health grants.

The Department of Health and Human Services told Congress on Monday that it planned to withhold about $600 million in grant funding allocated to the four states: California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota. Their attorneys general argue the cuts are backlash for the states’ opposition to Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The lawsuit says the cuts violate the Constitution by imposing retroactive conditions on funding and asks a federal court in Illinois to block them from taking effect.

Some grants could be terminated as soon as Thursday, and others in the coming weeks, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said.

Health officials have said the grants — several focused on LGBTQ+ people and communities of color — are “inconsistent with agency priorities” as the Trump administration has shifted away from supporting programs for specific populations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its priorities in September, dubbing health equity an “ideologically-laden” concept that "has undermined core American values.”

Health department officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

The administration also plans to pull hundreds of millions in transportation funding from the same four states.

Courts have temporarily blocked similar efforts by the administration to restrict federal funds.

A judge last week ruled that, for now, the administration cannot cut off billions in child care subsidies and other social service programs for lower-income people in those four states plus New York.

Several of the largest planned health funding cuts are to programs aimed at preventing the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in Chicago and Los Angeles, with a focus on adolescents, ethnic minorities and gay men.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called the funding cuts “a slap in the face” to public health leaders who have stepped up as the Trump administration “takes a sledgehammer to public health infrastructure.”

The administration is also targeting a $7.2 million grant for the Chicago-based American Medical Association, noting its support for gender-affirming care for minors, which a Trump executive order opposes.

Other grants help the states track disease outbreaks and collect public health data that the CDC also uses.

California faces the largest share of the planned cuts, which Attorney General Rob Bonta said will “irreparably harm” public health in the state.

“President Trump is resorting to a familiar playbook. He is using federal funding to compel states and jurisdictions to follow his agenda," Bonta said. "Those efforts have all previously failed, and we expect that to happen once again.”

Polls open for Bangladesh’s first election since the 2024 uprising that ousted Hasina

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Polls opened across Bangladesh on Thursday for voters to cast ballots in a parliamentary election seen as a critical test of the country’s democracy after years of political turmoil.

After a slow start, crowds came to polling stations in the capital, Dhaka, and elsewhere by midmorning. Balloting will continue through Thursday with results expected Friday.

More than 127 million people are eligible to vote in Bangladesh’s first election since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government collapsed in 2024 after weeks of mass protests. Hasina fled the country and her party is banned from the polls. She is living in exile in India.

Tarique Rahman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party is a leading contender to form the next government. He is the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in self-exile in London. Rahman has pledged to rebuild democratic institutions, restore the rule of law and revive the struggling economy.

Challenging the BNP is an 11-party alliance led by the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party, which was banned under Hasina but has gained prominence since her removal. The conservative religious group’s growing influence has fueled concern, particularly among women and minority communities, that social freedoms could come under pressure if they come to power. Bangladesh is more than 90% Muslim, while around 8% are Hindu.

Shafiqur Rahman, chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, expressed optimism after casting his vote in a polling station.

“It (the election) is a turning point,” he told The Associated Press. “People demand change. They desire change. We also desire the change.”

The vote is taking place under an interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, which has said it is committed to delivering a credible and transparent election. As part of that effort, around 500 international observers and foreign journalists will be present, including delegations from the European Union and the Commonwealth, to which Bangladesh belongs.

Bangladesh’s Parliament has 350 seats, including 300 elected directly from single-member constituencies and 50 reserved for women. Lawmakers are chosen by plurality and the parliament serves a five-year term. The Election Commission recently postponed voting in one constituency after a candidate died.

The election could reshape the domestic stability of Bangladesh, a country whose post-1971 history since gaining independence from Pakistan has been marked by entrenched political parties, military coups and allegations of vote rigging. Young voters, many of whom played a central role in the 2024 uprising, are expected to be influential. Some 5 million first-time voters are eligible.

“I think it is a very crucial election because this is the first time we can show our opinion with freedom,” said 28-year-old voter Ikram ul Haque, adding that past elections were far from fair.

“We are celebrating the election. It is like a festival here,” he said. “I hope Bangladesh will have exponential change.”

Thursday’s election is a critical test not just of leadership but of trust in Bangladesh’s democratic future. Voters can say “Yes” to endorse major reform proposals that stemmed from a national charter signed by major political parties last year.

If a majority of voters favor the referendum, the newly elected Parliament could form a constitutional reform council to make the changes with 180 working days from its first session. The proposals include the creation of new constitutional bodies and changing Parliament from a single body to a bicameral legislature with an upper house empowered to amend the constitution by majority vote.

The BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami both signed the document with some changes after initially expressing some dissent. Hasina’s Awami League party, which is a major party, and some of its former allies were excluded from the discussion. The referendum has still been criticized for limiting the options put before voters.