Federal Firings, Frozen Funds, and Health Research Cuts—WA Attorney General Fights Back

Federal employee firings, public health research, and federal fund freezes are in the crosshairs of Washington's Attorney General.

Thursday, Nick Brown touted a victory from a multistate coalition of 23 states as a federal judge in Rhode Island blocked the Trump administration from freezing trillions of dollars in federal funds to the states.

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"This is an important victory,' Brown said. "The judge made clear this was a ham-handed, arbitrary, capricious, and fact-free attempt to circumvent the U.S. Constitution."

Wednesday, Brown announced Washington state's involvement in a lawsuit over "illegal federal employee firings."

Washington joins the American Federation for Government Employees under a lawsuit Brown cites more than 12 million acres of federal land agencies manage thrown into chaos because of these labor cuts.

"Many of the president's power grabs have this problem in common - they're illegal," Brown said. These firings don't save the public a dime, but they do make government less responsive, paricularly in the communities across the nation where these employees live and serve."

The state's Employment Security Department believes at least 1,000 Washingtonians have lost their public service jobs to this date.

Also Wednesday, Brown announced his office along with a coalition of 21 other attorneys general secured a nationwide preliminary injunction in a case preventing the Trump administration from cutting billions of dollars of medical and public health research at universities and institutions.

"This is a major win for research institutions across Washington state and the country," Brown said.

The lawsuit also involved suing the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Health and Human Services.