Wisconsin Sues RFK Jr. Over HHS Funding Cuts

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at Legends Event Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo by Gage Skidmore. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Wisconsin has joined another lawsuit against President Donald Trump‘s administration, this time opposing funding cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that target spending previously approved by the U.S. Congress.

Wisconsin joined nearly two dozen other states suing HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other administration officials for sweeping budget cuts enacted in March. The agency fired approximately 10,000 federal employees, consolidated 28 separate agencies into 15 and cut the department’s regional offices from 10 to five.

“These devastating decisions will jeopardize the health and safety of Wisconsinites and our communities, all so Republicans can help pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires,” Gov. Tony Evers said. “It’s breathtaking.”

The cuts have hobbled the agency and impacted important public health programs and initiatives, the plaintiffs allege. They have rendered the department incapable of meeting its legal mandates and constitute an “unlawful effort” to undermine the will of Congress, which appropriated funding for many of the programs now being sidelined

“The terminations and reorganizations happened quickly, but the consequences are severe, complicated, and potentially irreversible,” according to the criminal complaint. “Plaintiff States are already suffering consequences of these terminations and reorganizations.”

The layoffs have not been applied evenly across the department. Instead they have targeted work “disfavored” by the new leadership, the plaintiffs allege. Secretary Kennedy has a long history of criticizing the department, and, in particular, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) work on vaccines, according to the plaintiffs. Kennedy has long espoused inaccurate information about vaccines and created an organization that pushed conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic, according to plaintiffs.

The cuts have disrupted an important Bird Flu test and laid off some of the top veterinarians working on the illness. Layoffs have left Head Start, an early childhood development program, and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program understaffed. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration offices have closed, disrupting work on services for persons recovering from substance abuse.

“A dangerous mix of conspiracy theories and the extreme ideology reflected by DOGE are causing a staggering amount of damage to the extraordinarily important work of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, resulting in increased and unnecessary risk to people’s health and wellbeing,” Attorney General Josh Kaul said.

HHS was created through a series of acts of Congress, not executive fiat. Plaintiffs allege the Trump administration is attempting an end-run around Congress and dismantling “core functions” of the agency on purpose.

“Incapacitating one of the most sophisticated departments in the federal government implicates hundreds of statutes, regulations, and programs,” according to the complaint.