OLYMPIA, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The state has launched its landmark 50th lawsuit of the year against the Trump administration.
State Attorney General Nick Brown joined 11 other states in suing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, Jan. 13.
They claim the department is illegally withholding hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding from states unless they follow the administration’s guidelines for gender and sex.
“The administration does not care who gets hurt or what laws are violated in their obsessive targeting of trans people,” Brown said. “We refuse to back down to these illegal demands and will fight for every dollar Congress has authorized.”
HHS’s new policy requires states, public universities, health agencies and hospitals to show that they’re in compliance with those guidelines in order to get new grants and keep existing ones.
The states argue the new rules conflict with many states’ laws, like in Washington where policies are in place to protect the rights of transgender people.
The coalition of states are asking the court to declare HHS’s policy illegal and block it from enforcing it.
It comes as the AG’s Office says its dozens of lawsuits this year have protected more than $15 billion in federal funding for Washington.
