Trump rescinds $1.5 billion in CDC and EV funds from four blue states
OMB rescinds $943 million in transportation grants and $602 million in CDC health programs from Colorado, Illinois, California, and Minnesota
On Feb. 5, 2026, OMB Director Russell Vought authorized two simultaneous agency-level rescissions totaling $1.5 billion. The Transportation Department was directed to rescind $943 million in NEVI formula funds from Colorado, Illinois, California, and Minnesota.
The CDC was directed to rescind $602 million in public health grants from the same four states. Every targeted state has a Democratic governor and a Democratic-controlled legislature — a pattern critics immediately flagged as politically motivated targeting.
Key Concepts
Essential concepts and terms to understand this topic
Federal Limits
The constitutional principle that federal power is limited to powers explicitly granted in the Constitution.
Procedural Due Process
Fair procedures that government must follow—notice, hearing, neutral decision-maker—before taking someone's life, liberty, or property.
Interposition/Nullification
A rejected theory that states can nullify or block federal laws they consider unconstitutional.
Federalism
Power is divided between the federal government and state governments, each exercising authority in designated areas.
Key People
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Russell Vought
Director, Office of Management and Budget
Vought authorized the Feb. 5 rescissions, labeling targeted programs 'fraught with waste and mismanagement.' The targeted rescission strategy — directing agencies individually rather than issuing an OMB-wide freeze — appears designed to sidestep the court injunction that blocked his January 2025 blanket freeze.
Donald Trump
President of the United States
Trump has repeatedly targeted blue-state programs as leverage over Democratic governors and as a political signal to his base. He had publicly stated his intent to cut EV infrastructure spending and to defund what he described as 'woke' health programs.
Jared Polis
Governor of Colorado (D)
Polis said on Feb. 6 that Colorado had received no formal written notice of the rescissions despite media reports. He said the administration's process was 'chaotic and opaque' and that the state was reviewing legal options. Colorado stood to lose a significant share of the NEVI funds for planned charging corridors on I-25 and I-70.
Tim Walz
Governor of Minnesota (D), 2024 Democratic vice-presidential nominee
Walz called the cuts 'an act of political retribution' against states that voted against Trump and said Minnesota would 'fight this in every available forum.' His high national profile as the 2024 VP nominee gave his statements significant media reach.
KR
Kwame Raoul
Illinois Attorney General (D)
Raoul filed suit in federal court within days of the Feb. 5 announcement, arguing the rescissions violate the ICA and the Appropriations Clause. Illinois stood to lose the largest share of NEVI funds among the four states. His lawsuit was the first legal challenge filed specifically against the February rescissions.
Rob Bonta
California Attorney General (D)
Bonta joined a multistate legal coalition challenging the rescissions and had previously led litigation against the January 2025 blanket funding freeze. California's NEVI allocation was the largest of any state in the country, making it the biggest single loser in the Transportation rescission.
Susan Collins
U.S. Senator (R-ME), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee
Collins, who had called prior pocket rescissions a 'clear violation of the law,' did not issue a public statement specifically addressing the February blue-state cuts. Her silence illustrated the political calculation: targeted cuts against Democratic states generate less Republican institutional resistance than government-wide freezes.
Rosa DeLauro
U.S. Representative (D-CT), Ranking Member, House Appropriations Committee
DeLauro called the cuts 'politically motivated theft of congressionally appropriated funds' and said the pattern of exclusively targeting blue-state programs 'makes clear this has nothing to do with waste and everything to do with political punishment.' She demanded OMB produce documentation justifying the 'waste and mismanagement' characterization for each cut program.
MC
Mandy Cohen
Former CDC Director (departed Jan. 2025); CDC under new Trump-appointed leadership
The CDC rescissions were authorized under the Trump-appointed CDC leadership that replaced Cohen after the administration transition. The new leadership did not publicly defend the specific programs cut or offer transition plans for affected grantees.
PB
Pete Buttigieg (historical context)
Former Secretary of Transportation, creator of NEVI program
Buttigieg oversaw the NEVI formula fund distributions in 2022–2024 under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. His public criticism of the rescissions highlighted that the program had bipartisan origins — passed by Congress with Republican votes — and that the funds were not discretionary grants but formula-based allocations states were legally entitled to receive.
What you can do
Contact your governor and state attorney general if you live in an affected state
civic action
Colorado, Illinois, California, and Minnesota are the four directly affected states. Governors and AGs are actively deciding whether to pursue litigation. Constituent pressure matters — state officials who hear from residents about specific programs they depend on are more likely to prioritize those programs in legal challenges.
Contact your congressional representatives about the ICA violations
civic action
Congress appropriated these funds. Any member of Congress — including Republicans — can demand OMB produce the legal justification for the rescissions and challenge them through the Appropriations Committees.
Track the Illinois federal lawsuit and multistate coalition litigation
education
Illinois AG Raoul's lawsuit is the first direct legal challenge to the February rescissions. Court decisions in this case will establish whether the administration's agency-by-agency rescission approach — designed to evade the injunction on the blanket freeze — is lawful. Monitor through PACER or the Illinois AG's public case tracker.