Colorado is poised to lose more than $229 million after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decided to pull back some $11 billion in COVID-19 related grants to states and local health departments.

Attorney General Phil Weiser said Colorado joined about two dozen states in suing the federal health department and Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. to try and overturn the grant terminations.

Under both the first Trump administration and the Biden administration, billions of dollars was allocated for COVID response through legislation, including a relief bill and the American Rescue Plan Act.

Weiser’s office said the funding terminations came “with no warning or legally valid explanation” and “quickly caused chaos for state health agencies.”

“This action of Secretary Kennedy to defund committed grants for public health and behavioral health purposes is inexplicable, illegal, and will cause untold damage to Colorado,” Weiser said in a news release.

The states’ lawsuit argue that the funding terminations violate federal law because none of the funds is tied to the end of the pandemic. The attorneys general seek a restraining order.

Last month, federal health officials said they are pulling back $11.4 billion in COVID-19-related funds for state and local public health departments and other health organizations throughout the nation.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.