The health-grant clawback was ruled illegal. Only some states got their money back.
Summary
In March 2025, HHS voided nearly 700 pandemic-era public health grants worth $11 billion in a single week. A federal court ruled it unlawful two months later — but the injunction only covers the 25 states that sued. In the states that didn't, fewer than 5% of the money has come back; Minnesota alone had already issued 170 layoff notices by the time the ruling landed.
Twenty-five states sued. The rest didn't.
Colorado, California, and 23 other states and the District of Columbia filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island on April 1, 2025 (State of Colorado v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, No. 1:25-cv-00121). Judge Mary S. McElroy issued a temporary restraining order two days later, then a preliminary injunction on May 16, 2025, finding the terminations violated the Administrative Procedure Act. But the injunction's relief runs only to the 25 plaintiff jurisdictions — it was never a nationwide order. States that didn't join the suit got no court-ordered fix.
The dollar amounts at stake, and what happened to them, varied enormously by state — and tracked almost exactly with who sued.
View data as table
| California | $972M | CA DOJ — sued, fully restored |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | $700M+ | KFF Health News — did not sue, not restored |
| Ohio | $250M | KFF Health News — did not sue, not restored |
| Minnesota | $220M | MN Dept. of Health — sued, largely restored |
| Illinois | $125M | IL Dept. of Public Health — sued, largely restored |
California stood to lose more than $972 million, per Attorney General Rob Bonta's office — and, as a plaintiff, got it back in full. Illinois lost $125 million in already-awarded grants and had another $324 million in pledged future funding blocked, affecting 97 local health departments statewide; it sued, and recovered most of it. Minnesota lost $220 million in previously approved federal funding; it sued too.
Florida and Ohio did not join the suit. Florida lost 11 grants worth more than $700 million; Ohio lost $250 million. Neither got meaningfully more money back — nationwide, Health News found that plaintiff states had recovered nearly 80% of their terminated grants by August 2025, while non-plaintiff states had recovered less than 5%.
View data as table
| States that sued | ~80% | of terminated grants restored, as of Aug. 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| States that didn't sue | <5% | of terminated grants restored, as of Aug. 2025 |
The people were already gone
A court order can restore a grant. It can't undo a layoff that already happened. Minnesota's health department issued 170 layoff and separation notices for positions funded by the terminated grants on April 1, 2025 — six weeks before the preliminary injunction landed on May 16. Roughly 300 total notices went out once "at-risk" seniority-bumping is counted, and the department rescinded nearly 20 job offers already made to incoming hires. By the time the money came back, the people who would have spent it were already looking for other work.
And the fight isn't over. Illinois's health department announced another $100 million in cuts in February 2026 — to the Public Health Infrastructure Grant, disease surveillance, and HIV prevention and monitoring programs — nine months after the injunction it had already won.
The takeaway
- The cut was fast, broad, and untargeted. Nearly 700 grants worth $11 billion were voided in a single week, before any state had time to plan around losing the money.
- A court ruling isn't a nationwide fix. The injunction covers only the 25 jurisdictions that sued. States that didn't have recovered less than 5% of what they lost, versus nearly 80% for states that did.
- Money can come back faster than jobs. Minnesota's 170 layoffs landed weeks before the ruling that would have restored the funding behind them — the court order can't rehire anyone.
- It's still happening. Illinois absorbed another $100 million cut in February 2026, in the same grant categories the 2025 lawsuit was fought over.
State totals are as first announced by each state's own health agency or attorney general and reflect the initial termination, not necessarily the current restored balance; only California and Florida are confirmed fully resolved (restored and not-restored, respectively) as of this writing.
Sources
- Health News — Blue States That Sued Kept Most Grants, While Red States Feel Brunt of Trump Clawbacks (Aug. 26, 2025): analysis of 's own grant-termination lists and USAspending.gov data, source for the ~700-grant/$11 billion national total, the Ohio and Florida figures, and the roughly 80%-vs-under-5% restoration disparity. kffhealthnews.org
- Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, University of Michigan Law School — case page for State of Colorado v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, No. 1:25-cv-00121 (D.R.I.): filing date, the April 3, 2025 TRO, and the May 16, 2025 preliminary injunction, including its 25-jurisdiction scope. clearinghouse.net
- California Department of Justice, Office of Attorney General Rob Bonta — press release on the preliminary injunction: the $11 billion national total and California's $972 million share, fully restored. oag.ca.gov
- Illinois Department of Public Health — press release, March 26, 2025: $125 million in already-awarded grants rescinded, $324 million in pledged funding blocked, 97 local health departments affected. dph.illinois.gov
- Illinois Department of Public Health — press release, Feb. 12, 2026: a further $100 million cut to public health infrastructure and HIV/chronic disease surveillance programs. dph.illinois.gov
- Minnesota Department of Health — press release, April 1, 2025: $220 million in federal funding cut and 170 layoff/separation notices issued. health.state.mn.us
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On March 24, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services terminated nearly 700 grants in a single action — COVID-era money for disease surveillance, immunization, mental health, and lab capacity, appropriated by Congress and already awarded to states. Per KFF Health News's analysis of HHS's own grant-termination lists and USAspending.gov data, the grants were worth roughly $11 billion. A federal court later called the terminations unlawful. But the ruling didn't put the money back everywhere — only in the states that had gone to court to get it.