Coalition Letter Requesting Higher CDC Funding

October 30, 2025

Dear Chairs Aderholt and Capito and Ranking Members DeLauro and Baldwin:

The undersigned 124 members of the CDC Coalition and other supporting state, national, and academic organizations write to express our strong opposition to the more than $1.77 billion cut to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention proposed in the House FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Our organizations urge you to reject the cuts in the House bill that would severely undermine critical public health programs. Instead, we ask that you follow the Senate’s lead and work in a bipartisan manner to develop a final FY 2026 bill that provides robust funding for the agency’s many critical programs, recognizes those programs supported with increases in either the House or Senate bills, and rejects controversial policy riders. Due to years of underfunding, many of CDC’s most effective prevention programs are not reaching all states and communities, and further cuts to these programs will only exacerbate this problem.

The CDC Coalition is a nonpartisan coalition of organizations committed to strengthening our nation’s public health infrastructure and prevention programs. Our mission is to ensure that health promotion and disease prevention are top priorities in federal funding, to support a funding level for CDC that enables it to carry out its prevention mission and to ensure an adequate translation of new research into effective state, local and community-based programs. CDC programs protect the nation from public health threats, including the current multi-state measles outbreaks, which have resulted in three deaths and 1,648 confirmed cases in the U.S. across 42 jurisdictions so far this year, and many other health threats that could impact any state and congressional district.

The House bill would eliminate funding for numerous CDC programs that are critical to combating chronic diseases, preventing injury and violence, ensuring workplace safety, protecting the public from heat waves, wildfires, and other extreme weather events, and addressing the domestic and global HIV/AIDS epidemic, among others. Specifically, the bill would eliminate or drastically reduce funding for the following:

• Eliminates funding for the Tobacco Prevention and Control program, which helps states prevent youth vaping and saves lives by addressing one of the leading causes of preventable death;
• Eliminates all funding for the Domestic HIV Prevention and Research program, the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative and the Global HIV/AIDS program;
• Eliminates funding for the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant program that provides states and localities with flexible funding to address their own unique health challenges;
• Eliminates funding for CDC’s gun violence prevention research, which has been funded in a bipartisan manner at $12.5 million for the last five years.
• Eliminates funding for the Climate and Health program, which is critical to ensuring our nation’s readiness to address the health impacts of extreme weather events and wildfires;
• Eliminates funding for adolescent and school health programs that are proven to reduce risk behaviors and improve mental health among youth;
• Eliminates funding for Prevention Research Centers that conduct research to help communities prevent chronic diseases;
• Eliminates funding for the Racial and Ethnic Approach to Community Health program;
• Eliminates funding for Global Vaccine Preventable Diseases; and
• Cuts funding for occupational safety and health research.

These cuts would be devastating to communities across the country – especially to state, local, tribal and territorial public health infrastructure and workforce. Currently, nearly 80% of CDC’s domestic budget is allocated to state, tribal, local, and territorial health organizations and agencies, national public health partners, community-based organizations, and academic institutions across the nation to support public health and prevention activities. We strongly urge you to reject these proposed cuts, sustain the increases allocated in the House and Senate bills, and provide CDC with the robust funding it needs to keep our communities healthy and safe from the many health threats and challenges we currently face and from future public health emergencies. A strong CDC is essential to building public trust and improving and protecting the health of all our communities.

Thank you for your attention to our support for a strong bipartisan effort to adequately fund CDC and its programs in any final FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. You may contact Don Hoppert at donald.hoppert@apha.org or 202-777-2514 with any questions regarding our views.

Sincerely,

Accessia Health

Alaska Public Health Association

Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM)

American Academy of Family Physicians

American Academy of Nursing

American Academy of Pediatrics

American Association of Colleges of Nursing

American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine

American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP)

American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges

American Association on Health and Disability

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

American College of Chest Physicians

American College of Clinical Pharmacy

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

American College of Osteopathic Internists

American College of Physicians

American Heart Association

American Lung Association

American Psychological Association Services

American Public Health Association

American Society for Clinical Pathology

American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

American Society for Microbiology

American Society of Hematology

American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

American Thoracic Society

Arkansas Public Health Association

Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF)

Association for Prevention Teaching and Research

Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)

Association of American Medical Colleges

Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs

Association of Minority Health Professions Schools

Association of Public Health Laboratories

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials

Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

Big Cities Health Coalition

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

Children’s Environmental Health Network

Choose Healthy Life

Climate Psychiatry Alliance

Coalition for Clinical and Translational Science

Connecticut Public Health Association

Connecticut SOPHE

Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation

DC Public Health Association

Delaware Academy of Medicine and Public Health

Digestive Disease National Coalition

Doctors for America

Dystonia Medical Research Foundation

Endocrine Society

Entomological Society of America

Farmington Valley Health District

Fight Colorectal Cancer

Florida Public Health Association

For Our Health

Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research

Georgia Public Health Association

Global Liver Institute

GO2 for Lung Cancer

Green & Healthy Homes Initiative

Hawaii Public Health Association

Health Resources in Action

Healthy Teen Network

Heluna Health

HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute

Illinois Public Health Association

Infectious Diseases Society of America

International WELL Building Institute

Interstitial Cystitis Association

Iowa Public Health Association

Lakeshore Foundation

Louisiana Mosquito Control Association

Louisiana Public Health Association

Lymphatic Education & Research Network

Maine Public Health Association

Medical Students for a Sustainable Future

Michigan Public Health Association

Minnesota Public Health Association

Mission MSA

Montana Public Health Association

NASTAD

National Association of County and City Health Officials

National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

National Center for Healthy Housing

National Eczema Association

National Environmental Health Association

National Forum for Heart Disease & Stroke Prevention

National League for Nursing

National Network of Public Health Institutes

National Safety Council

New Jersey Public Health Association (NJPHA)

New York State Public Health Association

North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition

North Dakota

Northeast Regional Center for Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases

Nutrition and Medical Foods Coalition

Oklahoma Public Health Association

Parkinson’s Foundation

Pennsylvania Public Health Association

Prevent Blindness

Prevention Institute

Public Health Foundation

Pulmonary Hypertension Association

Research!America

Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation

Safe States Alliance

Shatterproof

Sleep Research Society

Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Society for Public Health Education

Southeastern Center of Excellence in Vector Borne Disease

Southern California Public Health Association

Tennessee Public Health Association

The AIDS Institute

The National Pancreas Foundation

Tourette Association of America

Trust for America’s Health

Virginia Public Health Association

wAIHA Warriors

Washington State Public Health Association

Wyoming Public Health Association

 

Cc: The Honorable Tom Cole

The Honorable Patty Murray

The Honorable Susan Collins