( October 20, 2025, 11:49 AM EDT) -- PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Citing a lapse in funding appropriations for significant portions of the federal government due to the government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Oct. 17 moved for a stay or a 45-day extension of the deadline to respond to a complaint filed by several states seeking to block HHS from enforcing a March 24 decision that terminated $11 billion in federal financial assistance used by states for public health emergency preparedness and other public health purposes as no longer necessary because the COVID-19 pandemic had ended....