Talking Points: Sounding the Alarm about CDC Budget Cuts FY2026

Resources for Sounding the Alarm about CDC Cuts

Prepared by CDC Alumni and Friends, July 2025

(SOCO = Single Overriding Communication Objective. If the reporter takes nothing else away from the interview, you want them to get this. At the end of the interview, when the reporter asks if there’s anything else you’d like to add, this is the message you give them even if you’ve already said it multiple times during the interview.)

Additional Topline Points: 

• An excellent summary of the impacts of the FY 2026 proposed HHS budget https://www.cdcdataproject.org/ has been made available by Fired but Fighting (a group of fired CDC employees https://firedbutfighting.org/) 
• The FY26 HHS budget under discussion in Congress cuts CDC funding by 54% to $4.24 billion and CDC staff by 42% to approximately 5,500. It eliminates or moves many of these life-saving CDC programs to the Administration for a Healthy America, an office not yet established or functioning.  
• About 3,000 of the 13,250 FTEs at CDC have been “fired” so far this year, and the budget cuts would result in thousands of additional staff being dismissed along with their considerable and specific expertise in preventive health programs.  The terminated staff from the April “reductions in force” are still being paid which is not efficient and is not saving taxpayer dollars.  
• Although about 450 of these staff were notified on 6/11 that their terminations had been rescinded, thousands of staff remain terminated.  Among those whose terminations were rescinded, it is unknown how many will return, whether the programs will be reestablished, and if these staff and programs will be retained should the FY26 budget be adopted. Important research and surveillance work has been disrupted and has severely impacted or terminated programs.  
• Secretary Kennedy’s testimonies before the House and Senate on May 14 and June 24, 2025 make it clear that he does not understand the impacts of gutting CDC and state health public health protections that the American people rely on to keep them healthy and safe. 
• The Administration for a Healthy America will lack the world-class expertise in health and lab sciences, data systems, and other expertise housed at CDC. There is no plan to transition CDC's lifesaving programs. Delays cost lives.
• The CDC annual discretionary budget of $9.23 billion is only 0.01% of the total federal budget. Public health programs also have an extraordinary return on investment. Eliminating half or all of CDC’s programs will have essentially no detectable effect on the federal budget. But, the health consequences will be enormous.  The American people deserve to be healthy, safe, and secure. CDC works 24/7 to address threats so that children can learn and thrive, and all Americans can prosper. We can’t afford to erase more than half a century of extraordinary progress improving Americans’ health and safety.

Loss of Support for States:

• State health departments rely on CDC data systems and expertise to implement programs, investigate outbreaks and resolve urgent public health crises.
• Already, states needing assistance have called on CDC for help (e.g., with high lead levels in children and a viral hepatitis outbreak in a clinic), but due to the cuts that have already happened, no one was there to respond, or available to do the required laboratory testing. Even though RIF notices for some of the staff in these programs were rescinded on 6/11/25, some have taken other jobs, and some may not want to return to CDC. There is still tremendous uncertainty about the future of these CDC programs due to proposed cuts in the FY26 budget.
• State health departments rely on CDC funding, data systems and expertise.  About 80 cents of every dollar in CDC’s domestic budget goes to state and local health departments. The proposed FY2026 budget won’t just take money away from CDC, it will take critical funding away from people in every community across the country. 
• State grant programs that fund emergency preparedness and action for public health threats, laboratory capacity, cancer screenings, prevention programs for drowning, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, drug and tobacco use, and HIV, as well as programs that protect pregnant women and babies, will end.  Here’s an example of what’s already happening in states stopping HIV testing https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/EquitasHealth/posts/important-update-the-ohio-department-of-health-odh-recently-let-equitas-health-k/1123801139794395/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1750860507528388&usg=AOvVaw1PNND4ZNVF33B4YJckNH1l
• In addition to cuts to funding, the Office of Management and Budget has been trickling appropriated FY2025 funds to CDC.   This has been termed “slow rolling,” “rescission by inertia,” and “pocket impoundment.”  It is a clear undermining of Congressional authority to appropriate funds.
• This, combined with cuts to the staff that oversee distribution of funds to partners (State Health Departments and academic and other non-governmental organizations), may make it impossible for CDC to fully distribute FY2025 funds. In that case, states and other partners will not receive their 2025 funding. The slow release of funds has already resulted in staff cuts at some state health departments (e.g. see NPR report);  

How Public Health Helps the Economy:

Public health actions are essential for a strong American economy.  Preventing health problems is cheaper than treating them. Public health programs provide an extraordinary return on investment, for example:

• The Vaccines for Children program saves almost $11 for every $1 spent.  
• Smoking prevention programs prevented almost 130,000 deaths and saved more than $7 billion in healthcare costs from 2012 to 2018.  
• The estimated per-person lifetime cost for HIV care and treatment is $540,000. 
• After the launch of  President Trump's HIV initiative during his first administration, between 2018 and 2022 the number of new infections fell 12%.
• The result of gutting HIV programs at CDC could be increased societal costs reaching $60 billion over just five years. 

Eliminating CDC’s resources and staff expertise will have immediate risks to the U.S. economy. Increased rates of illness, hospitalizations and deaths will lead to absenteeism from work and school, and decreased productivity. This will contribute to economic losses and decreased competitive advantage for the country. 

Examples of How CDC and the State Programs It Funds Protect People’s Health:

CDC and state health programs protect our health; examples include:

• Providing early treatment for babies born with deafness
• Ensuring schools are prepared to help children with asthma and that parents have access to drowning prevention programs for their children
• Implementing programs to lower the risk that pregnant women die after delivery
• Providing Narcan to communities to save lives from overdoses
• Helping smokers to quit, screening people for cancer
• Ensuring sickle cell patients get optimal care and HIV patients and their contacts get treatment and followup
• Reducing elderly Americans risks for falls and ensuring that they have access to care for conditions like Altzheimer’s disease 

Expanded Program Examples:

Overdose Deaths:

Overdose deaths fell from 110,000 in 2023 to about 80,000  in 2024; the first substantial decline in deaths since the start of the opioid epidemic.  

We believe that a good part of this decline happened because, for the first time, CDC was able to measure and describe the problem in every state and start to track the effectiveness of actions.  

Despite this good news, overdoses are still the leading cause of death in adults 18-44 years in the U.S.  

Now is the time to continue those programs proven to work, like community-wide distribution of Narcan and getting more people with addiction problems into effective treatment. So why is CDC’s scientific expertise, data collection, and support for community programs through grant support to state health departments proposed for elimination?

Just as we were turning the corner on this huge health problem, we risk losing our momentum and allowing more people to die from opioid overdoses.  

Safe Pregnancies and Newborn Screening:

Every American wants women to have safe pregnancies and for babies to have the best chance in life by ensuring that they are screened and start early treatment for problems like deafness at birth.

These proposed cuts mean a woman’s risk of dying will be higher, and newborns may not get early treatment.   

Funding for state health department programs to identify, monitor and prevent maternal deaths and pregnancy complications would be greatly reduced in the FY 2026 budget. Additionally, CDC staff from those programs have already been terminated. Many states will be unable to cover these costs and continue these programs. 

Additionally, the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), which monitors women’s health behaviors and outcomes before, during, and after childbirth, lost its entire staff -- about 20 people. Recent layoffs also eliminated staff collecting data on in vitro fertilizations.

Every year, CDC and its partners have ensured that all 4 million newborns in the U.S. are screened for congenital hearing loss. 6,000 babies are identified as deaf or hard of hearing every year and all are followed in order to help families enroll their babies into hearing services by 6 months of age. 

Now, this successful program is threatened and children with congenital deafness will not get the services required for on-time speech and language development. This will result in greater special education costs and lower educational and lifelong achievement.

Treatment and Prevention of HIV:

Despite great progress in treatment and prevention of HIV, 31,800 new infections occurred in the US in 2022. 

HIV patients require treatment for life so preventing HIV is much less expensive than treating it. 

CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention led domestic HIV prevention efforts and accounted for more than 90% of federal HIV prevention funding. 

With the elimination of this program, societal costs for HIV care and treatment will increase dramatically and could reach $60 billion in lifetime care costs over just five years. 

The U.S had recently eliminated transmission from pregnant women with HIV to their unborn children–but now babies will be at risk.  

Investigations and response efforts for HIV clusters will be severely affected. The CDC plays a vital role in HIV outbreak investigations using its surveillance systems and coordinating public health responses to identify, investigate, and control HIV outbreaks.

Finally, we do not know when and what domestic HIV programs functions will be reestablished due to the rescission of terminations nor what functions will be retained if the FY26 budget is passed.

Sickle Cell Disease:

Sickle cell disease (SCD) affects approximately 100,000 Americans and is an inherited, lifelong disorder, which results in patients’ red blood cells becoming rigid and sickle shaped.

Our health care system does not have a consistent method to capture the data necessary to address these individuals’ complex health challenges and connect them to comprehensive care. 

CDC’s SCD Data Collection Program, a relatively new program, successfully collects and analyzes longitudinal data about people living in the U.S. with SCD. 

The program has helped health care professionals understand the effects of medical treatments and establish cost saving practices to improve and extend the lives of individuals with SCD. 

In one large state, CDC's SCD Data Collection program of connecting patients to expert care helped reduce emergency room visits by 11% and hospitalizations by 20%, saving the state’s health care system nearly $100 million per year.

This program would be abolished if the budget is approved.

Worker Safety:

In 1970, due to concerns that workers were being exposed to environmental hazards, congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act. This created the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) whose mission is to develop new knowledge in occupational safety and health and to transfer that knowledge into practice to prevent work-related injury, illness, disability, and death.  

NIOSH’s work includes annually updating both its Toxic Substances list and a pocket guide for chemical hazards, and developing standards and educational materials for asbestos, bloodborne pathogens, rubber latex allergens, indoor air quality, and much more. 

They respond to emergency exposures for workers like those that occurred during the 9/11 attack and during fighting the massive wildfires in Los Angeles.  

On April 1st, 2025, more than 90% of the staff at NIOSH received layoff notices and although several programs, including overseeing personal protective equipment and miner safety, were rescinded temporarily, these CDC programs would be moved to AHA if the FY 2026 budget passes and the specific staff expertise would be lost.  This threatens the health and safety of workers in the US.  

Outbreak Investigation:

CDC has unique expertise to investigate outbreaks caused by infectious or other agents.  A number of these investigations are no longer possible after the reductions in force in April 1, 2025.  

Despite the rescission of terminations on 6/11/2025, there is a great deal of uncertainty about the future of many CDC programs to conduct or assist with outbreak investigations given the proposed cuts in the FY26 budget.

Example 1 - Viral Hepatitis

• Viral hepatitis is a serious public health threat that kills thousands of Americans annually and is a leading cause of chronic liver disease and cancer. Tens of thousands of people are newly infected with hepatitis viruses every year in the US.  
• Outbreaks of hepatitis are investigated by state health departments in close collaboration with CDC, especially when outbreaks occur in multiple states.  
• An outbreak of hepatitis C linked to unsafe injections in a pain clinic was investigated earlier this year in Florida. CDC’s viral hepatitis lab helps state health departments determine which clinic patients got infected in an outbreak like this and what treatment and follow up should occur for those patients.
• For several months this year, this help was no longer available; the viral hepatitis lab at CDC was shut down. Although these staff’s terminations have now been rescinded (6/11/25), there is great uncertainty how functional the lab will be, and for how long.

Example 2 - High Lead Levels

• High lead levels, which can lead to brain and nervous system damage, slowed growth and development, learning and behavior and speech and hearing problems have been found among school children in Milwaukee.  
• CDC lead experts who were assisting in this investigation were fired on 4/1/25.
• These staff were expert in understanding lead levels in the blood, in knowing how to find the cause when a child has an elevated lead level, how to best treat lead poisoning, and how to prevent further exposures for that child and other children. 
• In 2024, more than 500 children were affected by lead contamination of cinnamon flavored applesauce and CDC led the response.

• For several months this year, there was no one to call.  Although the CDC staff in the lead poisoning prevention program’s terminations were rescinded on 6/11, there is great uncertainty how functional the program will be, and for how long.

   

Susceptibility Testing for STIs:  These functions were no longer possible after the reductions in force on April 1, 2025.  Despite the rescissions on 6/11/2025, the timing of their return to function and future availability is unclear. 

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are common especially in young adults. 

The CDC lab that helped determine what antibiotics work to treat certain STIs like gonorrhea was eliminated.

Doctors will not have the best information available on which antibiotic to use to treat the next case they see.

Chronic Disease Prevention:

Chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes, are the leading causes of illness, disability, and death in America. 

These conditions are also the major drivers of healthcare costs in the U.S. 

On April 1, 2025, much of the chronic disease center and its programs were eliminated and the entire center is slated for elimination in the FY2026 budget.  

CDC staff have not been involved in transition planning for Secretary Kennedy’s new Administration for a Healthy America, which is scheduled to take over some of this work, 

In the meantime, large swaths of CDC’s experts have been let go - a big drain on our nation’s scientific leadership. 

Heart disease, alcohol abuse, stroke, diabetes are killers in many communities across our nation and  communities need help with prevention programs that CDC has developed and proven to work. 

CDC provides scientific leadership, data systems and grants to state health departments: the grants for heart disease, stroke cancer and diabetes will also be terminated in the FY2026 budget.

Smoking and Tobacco Use:

Smoking can lead to cancers, heart disease, and chronic lung diseases. It can worsen diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, premature aging and other chronic diseases. 

CDC and FDA work closely together, with complimentary roles, on tobacco control.  

Through this joint work, the "Tips From Former Smokers" campaign led to one million successful quits between 2012 and 2018. 

This prevented an estimated 129,100 tobacco-related deaths and $7.3 billion in healthcare cost savings.  

In teens, smoking has dropped from 36% to less than 4% and vaping from 28% to 8%.  

In 2019, teens around the country were hospitalized for lung damage after vaping with contaminated cartridges, but the outbreak was promptly curtailed because CDC’s emergency response surged, informing the public about the risks, sounding the alarm and helping states around the country.  

Now, all the staff with needed expertise related to smoking and vaping have been cut.  

Who We Are:

We are a volunteer network of about 350 CDC alumni and concerned citizens, with broad expertise. We have been advocating against cuts to staff and effective programs at CDC and for rigorous science through interactions with media and communication with elected officials and the public.