Witnesses tell House appropriations panel abrupt cuts to CDC, NIH and state funding risk public-health services

Members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education heard multiple witnesses warn that recent federal reorganizations and abrupt cancellations of appropriated funds are disrupting public-health operations at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and state and local health departments.

The witnesses said the disruptions — described as sudden firing of staff, cancelled multi‑year contracts and an $11 billion cut to supplemental funding already allocated to states — are hampering disease surveillance, outbreak response and long‑running research programs. "We are not in the business of wholesale firing and dismantling the very foundations of our public health system," Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D‑Conn.) told the hearing.

Public-health leaders said the most immediate effects are on core CDC programs. Teresa Sokol, Louisiana state epidemiologist and an executive board member of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, told the panel that the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity program (ELC) is the "only source of core infectious disease funding for epidemiologists in state and local health departments" and that ELC and public‑health data modernization are underfunded after years without growth. Sokol asked the subcommittee to "fully fund the CDC and appropriate $340,000,000 for data modernization and $120,000,000 for the ELC based funding."

Scott Harris, Alabama state health officer and president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, described how state departments rely heavily on federal dollars and said an abrupt loss of previously appropriated funds will force layoffs and stop essential work. "We were all very shocked recently to learn overnight we'd lost $11,000,000,000 in federal funding without any warning at all," Harris said, urging Congress to "help sustain investments to state and territorial health departments."

Physician‑researchers and clinicians raised related concerns about HIV prevention and treatment programs and surveillance capacities. Dr. Colleen Kelly, chair of the HIV Medicine Association, said recent terminations of HIV research grants and staff reductions at CDC threaten hard‑won progress on prevention and care: "Without widespread access to treatment, deaths from HIVAIDS will increase," she told the committee.

Poison‑control specialists also highlighted risks to surveillance infrastructure. Dr. Jessica Pescatore, clinical director of the Alabama Poison Information Center, asked for a $2,000,000 increase for the poison‑center program and warned that the National Poison Data System (NPDS) — which uploads regional data every five minutes and supports outbreak detection and response — could lapse without continued federal support.

Witnesses urged Congress to restore predictable, sustained funding and to consult state and local public‑health partners before making structural changes that affect operations. They emphasized that modernized data systems and staffing continuity are necessary to detect outbreaks, run surveillance labs and maintain prevention programs.

No formal action was taken at the hearing; members said the testimony will inform appropriations deliberations.