March 3 (UPI) -- Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the state's Department of Human Services filed a lawsuit against the federal government for withholding $259 million in Medicaid funds.
Last week, Vice President JD Vance and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz announced the withholding of funds saying it was because of alleged Medicaid fraud in the state.
On Monday, Ellison announced the suit against CMS and HHS. He said he would also request the court to issue a temporary restraining order against Oz and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stop them from withholding funds.
"The Trump Administration's M.O. is to cut first, no matter what the law says or who gets hurt, and ask questions later, if at all," Ellison said in a statement "These cuts are the latest in a long series of efforts to go around the law to punish Minnesotans -- but just as we fought back and won when they illegally tried to cut funding for childcare, hungry families and our schools, we are suing them again today to make them follow the law.
"Fighting fraud should be bipartisan but the Trump Administration not only hasn't helped the fight against fraud, they've actually harmed it," Ellison added. "Trump's attempts to look like he's fighting fraud only punish the people and families who most need the high-quality, affordable healthcare that all Minnesotans deserve."
