Dallas County, buoyed by a recent Harris County court win, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over the clawback of $70 million in public health funds.
Dallas County’s lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 5, claims the demand last spring that $11.4 billion in unspent pandemic-era funding be returned to federal coffers was an illegal one. The argument mirrors one made in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of 23 states — all led by Democratic governors — and the District of Columbia, that the rescinding of the unspent money awarded under one president cannot be seized under a different one. The states’ court battle is ongoing.
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Texas did not join the states’ lawsuit, despite losing an estimated $700 million.
In Dallas County’s case, the public health department lost $70 million in federal funding funneled through the Texas Department of State Health Services and as a result, the county had to lay off nearly two dozen employees. The sudden loss in funding will cause “significant harm” to Dallas County, the lawsuit states.
“The funding, which Dallas County received through new grant programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, was not limited to the duration of the pandemic and was generally expected to address the effects of the pandemic and prepare Dallas County for future public health crises,” Dallas County’s lawsuit states.
The federal government’s reasoning for the clawback — that the grants are no longer needed because the pandemic had ended — “is based on factors that Congress did not intend
Defendants to consider and improperly assumes without support that the funds were only intended for pandemic-related use,” Dallas County’s lawsuit states.
Dallas County’s case is now before U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, the same judge who last summer ordered the return of $20 million in slashed federal public health funds to Harris County.
The action from both Dallas and Harris counties indicates that the state’s two largest public health departments are done waiting on state officials to represent their interests in recapturing funds appropriated under a Democratic president but clawed back by a Republican one.
Last spring, the Trump administration shocked public health departments across the country by announcing $11 billion in unused pandemic-era public health funds to states must now be returned to federal coffers. Although much of the pandemic-era funding was due to expire a few months after the Trump administration’s announcement, local public health departments had in some cases until 2026 to spend the money.
In Texas, some of those funds that were cut had helped pay for testing, staffing and vaccinations during the West Texas measles outbreak.
The Texas Tribune has reached out to the state health department, Texas Attorney General’s office and attorneys representing the federal government for comment, but questions were not immediately answered Friday evening.