New York (AP) – A draft budget proposal circulating among federal officials would deepen considerably Cups to the best health agency in the countrycompletely eliminating certain public health programs and serving as a roadmap for More mass shots.
The document suggests a reduction in the American Ministry of Health and Social Services for discretionary expenses up to a third or tens of billions of dollars, according to public health experts with its content.
Although it is preliminary, the project gives an indication of the Trump administration priorities While preparing for his 2026 exercise Budget proposal at Congress. It comes in the midst of funding and massive work Cups already in progress in a large part of the federal government.
The HHS plan has a reorganization of its many agencies and offices and calls for eliminating or eliminating dozens of programs. Among them: Head Start, a development program for more than half a million the most necessary children in the country, as well as programs focused on pregnancy in adolescent girls and family planning, Lyme disease and global health.
The National Institutes of Health – The largest funder for the world of biomedical research, and long called the jewel of the government’s crown – would see its budget decrease to $ 27.3 billion, compared to $ 48.5 billion. Beyond the monetary cuts is a proposed restructuring, reducing the 27 institutes and centers of the NIH to eight. Many institutes specializing in distinct diseases – involving, for example, heart and lungs, diabetes and skeletal and skin conditions – would be combined.
NIH-funded research has played a role in developing most of the United States approved treatments in recent years, and until recently, there was a strong bipartisan support. It is not clear if the congress would go hand in hand with the proposed changes. During the first Trump administration, Congress rejected a major reduction in the NIH budget.
“I have simply heard anyone say:” We want the government to spend less money trying to cure cancer or trying to face Alzheimer’s disease, “said Jeremy Berg, professor at the University of Pittsburgh and former director of an NIH Institute.
However, this is what the reduction in the budget of $ 20 billion will mean, he said, adding that restructuring will also cost time and money.
The budget of the Food and Drug Administration would be reduced by almost half a billion dollars, to $ 6.5 billion, in part by eliminating certain long-standing responsibilities of the agency and by moving them to the States. For example, the FDA would no longer manage routine food inspections. It is already contracting with state inspectors for part of this work and would now cover “100% of all routine foods”, according to the document.
The basic budget for centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be reduced to around $ 5 billion, by more than $ 9 billion, with a number of programs eliminated and some transferred to a new agency offered to the administration for a healthy America.
The cuts include the complete elimination of the National Center for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases of the Agency and the Promotion of Health, which had 1,000 employees at the start of this year. This center houses CDC programs on adolescent health, reproductive health, cancer prevention, heart disease and cerebral vascular accidents and smoking prevention, as well as nutrition, physical activity and obesity.
The project has not been officially published or confirmed by the Trump administration, and it is not clear which will be part of the final budget proposal. “But this is an important indication of what the administration thinks,” said David Harvey, Executive Director of the National Coalition of Std Directors, an association that represents people who direct health department programs to monitor and prevent sexually transmitted infections. “We take it very seriously.”
The proposal was reported for the first time by the Washington Post. The Associated Press saw a copy of the 64 -page document, dated April 10.
The project is the result of discussions between HHS and the White House management and budget office. This is called a “pass” document – this is what the OMB has given to HHS after both.
An HHS spokesperson did not respond to a request for comments AP Thursday.
___
The journalists of AP Lauran Neergaard and Matthew Perrone in Washington, DC, contributed to this report.
___
The Department of Health and Sciences of the Associated Press receives the support of the scientific and educational group of the media from the medical institute Howard Hughes and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
