House Appropriations Committee’s FY-2026 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: [email protected]

 

APHA Statement on House Appropriations Committee’s FY-2026 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill

 

The FY 2026 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill, passed by the full House Appropriations Committee today, contains numerous counterproductive spending cuts and a long list of discriminatory policy riders. While the bill does not directly include the administration’s misguided HHS reorganization proposals or the same level of massive cuts and agency and program eliminations included in the president’s FY 2026 budget proposal, it still falls far short of meeting the needs of our nation’s public health system. This bill proposes significant spending cuts and eliminates funding for programs that are helping to address some of the greatest public health threats we face, including an underfunded public health system at all levels of government, gun violence, climate-related health threats like extreme heat and increased wildfires, and access to safe and affordable reproductive health care. The House bill would slash funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by more than $1.7 billion below the current funding levels and cut the Health Resources and Services Administration by $886 million below the FY 2025 level.

Specifically, the bill would drastically cut or eliminate funding for numerous programs, including:

  • Eliminate funding for CDC’s tobacco prevention and control program
  • Eliminate funding for the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant that helps states implement programs that address the most serious health threats in their communities
  • Decimate funding for both domestic and global HIV/AIDS prevention programs
  • Eliminate funding for gun violence prevention research at CDC and the National Institutes of Health
  • Eliminate funding for CDC’s Climate and Health program, which provides some states and communities with resources to protect the public from health threats including extreme heat, wildfires and the spread of vector-borne diseases
  • Eliminate funding for the Title X Family Planning Program
  • Eliminate funding for the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative at both CDC and HRSA
  • Eliminate funding for HRSA programs to increase diversity in the health workforce
  • Eliminates funding for the Agency for Health Research and Quality

We recognize that the bill does provide some modest increases to some CDC programs, including public health infrastructure, data modernization and the Infectious Disease Rapid Response Fund. The bill also contains numerous anti-public health policy riders, including riders that target the rights of the LGBTQ community and restrict access to abortion and other reproductive health care.

Unlike the House bill, the bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee was passed on a strong bipartisan vote and rejects the president’s proposed cuts and reorganizations, while maintaining funding for most CDC, HRSA and other important HHS agencies. We strongly oppose the House bill and urge the full House to reject it. House and Senate leaders must work in a bipartisan manner to quickly finalize and pass a bill that fully funds all critical HHS programs, at least at the Senate level, benefits public health and holds the administration accountable for implementing the bill as intended by Congress.

 

 

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The American Public Health Association champions optimal, equitable health and well-being for all. With our broad-based member community and 150-year perspective, we influence federal policy to improve the public’s health. Learn more at www.apha.org.

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