Details of federal cuts to Maine DHHS unknown, but layoffs are possible

Workers at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services were bracing for possible layoffs Friday while the impact of federal funding cuts was still unknown.

State officials announced on Thursday that the federal government immediately ended dozens of COVID-era contracts for Maine totaling $91 million. It was part of $11 billion in national cuts to state and local health agencies this week.

Maine officials did not respond to requests for details about the impacts Friday, but layoffs have been announced in other states because of the unexpected nationwide cuts., but Maine officials did not respond to requests for details about the impacts Friday.

The canceled contracts were originally part of COVID-19 era funding, but they supported broader disease prevention and public health preparedness programs not related to the pandemic.

Exactly what Maine programs are affected by funding reductions remained unclear.

Some examples of services provided by public health departments include immunization clinics, tracking and responding to disease outbreaks, public education, and prevention programs. And the news of the cuts stirred concern about significant impacts.

“Public health is for everybody. Public health is our safety net,” said Nancy Cronin, executive director of the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council. “It’s unsettling. It’s difficult to watch safety nets be eroded, and with no plan to make things better.”

The Trump administration has characterized the targeted programs as no longer needed and examples of wasteful spending.

Andrew Nixon, U.S. DHHS spokesperson, said in a statement that the “pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a nonexistent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.”

On Thursday, Lindsay Hammes, Maine DHHS spokesperson, said that “certain federally funded grants supporting important public and behavioral health work have been terminated without notice, effective immediately.”

The state agency will “review contracts impacted by the termination of these federal grants and assess the broader implications of the funding cuts.”

According to national news reports, epidemiologists and data scientists were among positions that have already been eliminated by public health agencies in other states as a result of the federal cuts.

Separately, the U.S. DHHS announced it is trimming its workforce, through layoffs and early retirements, by 20,000, going from 82,000 employees to 62,000 workers.

Matt Wellington, associate director of the Maine Public Health Association, said that “the public health system has been understaffed, underfunded for years, and this is only going to make it worse.”

“With the funding cuts confirmed this week, and the HHS layoffs, it seems like we are heading in the exact opposite direction of where we need to go,” Wellington said.

This week’s federal cuts to state and local health agencies totaled $11 billion, and another $1 billion was cut from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, criticized the Trump administration’s cuts to health.

“The idea that we can gut our public health workforce while eliminating the very resources they need to do their jobs defies all logic. These reckless decisions don’t just undermine our pandemic preparedness, they threaten lives,” Pingree said.

The cuts to health services come as the measles outbreak that started in Texas and New Mexico has expanded to more than 500 cases in 19 states, although none in Maine. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has criticized the use of vaccines and spread false claims that they cause autism.

Whether the funding cuts are legal is another open question, as the funding was appropriated under a previous Congress during the Biden administration. The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse as part of the separation of powers inherent in the U.S. form of government.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, is working with Maine to determine the impact of the cuts, but the senator criticized the massive layoffs at the federal HHS.

“You can’t tell me that that has been done in a thoughtful, rational way that’s going to serve the public,” King said.

When the Trump administration has cut funding previously appropriated by Congress — such as for the National Institutes of Health — states have sued. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey in February joined 21 other states to sue the Trump administration over the NIH cuts. That lawsuit is still pending.

Frey’s office had no comment when asked whether the DHHS cuts were illegal and could be the subject of a future lawsuit.

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