'It's a bloodbath': Trump admin is now being sued by nearly half of U.S.

Nearly half the nation's states are suing U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the agency's sweeping cuts.

The attorneys general for 23 states and Washington, D.C., filed a suit Tuesday seeking a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief to immediately pause cuts to $12 billion in public health funding that they argued was unlawful and harmful, reported CNN.

“Slashing this funding now will reverse our progress on the opioid crisis, throw our mental health systems into chaos, and leave hospitals struggling to care for patients,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose state could lose more than $400 million in public health funding.

Kennedy said last week that 10,000 full-time employees would be cut in addition to thousands who have already left or probationary employees already on leave, saying the department could do more with less, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention imposed cuts Tuesday at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the Office of Smoking and Health, Violence Prevention division and HIV offices.

“It’s a bloodbath,” said one U.S. Food and Drug Administration employee.

The CDC pulled back about $11.4 billion in funding to states and community health departments during the Covid-19 pandemic, the HHS said it expects to recover that money in about 30 days.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago," the agency said in a statement. "HHS is prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump’s mandate to address our chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again."

The coalition of attorneys general argued those funds were not limited to the Covid-19 response but was allocated as long-term support for the public health system, and they alleged that the administration undermined constitutional power of Congress by rescinding funds that had already been approved by the legislative branch.