Trump Aims for Deep Funding Cuts Across Federal Health Agencies

The Trump administration is planning to propose drastic cuts of more than 30% of the budget for federal health programs under the US Department of Health and Human Services, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg Law.

The Office of Management and Budget proposal, which is subject to change, outlines President Donald Trump’s health and human service priorities for his upcoming fiscal 2026 budget request.

Under the April 10 proposal, several existing programs would be consolidated under a new $20 billion agency, the Administration for a Healthy America. That agency would assume the work of other health divisions that deal with environment health, HIV prevention and treatment, and maternal and child health care.

The department would receive $80.4 billion under the plan, down from its budget of more than $116 billion for fiscal 2025.

HHS already carried out a large-scale reduction-in-force at the beginning of April to reshape the country’s health policy and communications. The department has sought to cut 20,000 positions.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced plans to consolidate the department’s 28 divisions into 15 and cut regional offices from 10 to five. HHS did not immediately respond to request for comment on the funding proposal.

The draft proposal includes $500 million to help with the Administration for a Healthy America’s policy, research, and evaluation.

Food Inspections

It would eliminate “FDA’s direct role in routine inspections of food facilities” and leave that responsibility primarily with state contracts.

The US Government Accountability Office published a report in January finding that the FDA had not met its domestic and foreign inspection targets from fiscal 2018 to 2023. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act requires FDA to inspect each high-risk domestic food facility at least once every three years and each non-high-risk facility at least once every five years.

The administration is planning to propose “short- and long-term administrative actions to strengthen and streamline FDA’s regulatory oversight of food programs, so chemicals and other additives in food and food packaging can be expeditiously removed from our food supply” according to the document.

The proposal also seeks to eliminate funding for Health Resources and Services Administration, the Office for Civil Rights, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and other offices.

The proposal targets the elimination of programs related to rural health, such as grants for rural hospitals, state offices of rural health, family planning, and at-risk rural hospital grants.