WASHINGTON, DC – In a new analysis from KFF Health News looking at the impact of the Trump administration’s cuts to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the states with Democratic Attorneys General who sued to prevent such cuts to funding, including state and local health departments, have steadily restored their funds – while GOP-led states have experienced significant loses to both funding and staff.

This is why it matters who Americans have as their state attorney general. While Democratic AGs continue to fight for their constituents, people living in red states with Republican AGs will suffer because their leaders won’t stand up to Trump’s unlawful cruelty.  

According to the article from CNN, “The Department of Health and Human Services in late March canceled nearly 700 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants nationwide — together worth about $11 billion […] Initially, grant cancellations hit blue and red states roughly evenly […] But after attorneys general and governors from about two dozen blue states sued in federal court and won an injunction, the balance flipped….In blue states, nearly 80% of the CDC grant cuts have been restored, compared with fewer than 5% in red states, according to the KFF Health News analysis.”

Key highlights:

• “Democratic-led states and select blue-leaning cities fought back in court and saw money for public health efforts restored — while GOP-led states sustained big losses.”
• “Of the five states with the most canceled grants, four are led by Republicans: Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Ohio.”
• “The divide is an example of the polarization that permeates health care issues, in which access to safety-net health programs, abortion rights, and the ability of public health officials to respond to disease threats diverge significantly depending on the political party in power.”
• “The money in question wasn’t spent solely on covid-related activities, public health experts say; it was also used to bolster public health infrastructure and help contain many types of viruses and diseases, including the flu, measles, and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus.”
• “The Trump cutbacks came as the U.S. recorded its largest measles outbreak in over three decades and 266 pediatric deaths during the most recent flu season — the highest reported outside of a pandemic since 2004. Public health departments canceled vaccine clinics, laid off staff, and put contracts on hold, health officials said in interviews.”
• “After its funding cuts were blocked in court, California retained every grant the Trump administration attempted to claw back, while Texas remains the state with the most grants terminated, with at least 30.”
• “Colorado, which joined the lawsuit, had 11 grant terminations at first, but then 10 were retained. Meanwhile, its neighboring states that didn’t sue — Wyoming, Utah, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma — collectively lost 55 grants, with none retained.”
• “In Jackson, Ohio, a half-dozen community health workers came to work one day in March to find the Trump administration had canceled their grant five months early, leaving the Jackson County Health Department half a million dollars short — and them without jobs.”
• “At one point, [Health Commissioner Kevin Aston] said, the funding helped 11 Appalachian Ohio counties. Now it supports one.”
• “Federal CDC funding accounts for more than half of state and local health department budgets, according to KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.”
• “The Columbus, Ohio, health department had received $6.2 million in CDC grants, but roughly half of it — $3 million — disappeared with the Trump cuts. The city laid off 11 people who worked on investigating infectious disease outbreaks in such places as schools and nursing homes, Columbus Health Commissioner Mysheika Roberts said.”
• “At least 40 CDC grants were terminated that were meant for global health efforts or assisting public health activities in other nations following the Trump administration’s order for the CDC to withdraw support for the World Health Organization.”

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