How Trump's proposed budget will be confined to public health in the United States
The Trump administration hopes to bring a sledgehammer to science and public health. In the new proposed budget released this week, the White House is making overall cuts to the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other key institutions.
The White House revealed its budget proposal on Friday. Some of the low highlights of the proposal include cutting the NIH and CDC budget by nearly 50%. While Congress is unlikely to pass all cuts, it would be possible to undermine the country’s public health program and seriously restore scientific research through just a few.
Trump's proposed budget requires a total of $163 billion in non-defense discretionary spending cuts in fiscal 2026, about 22% from the current budget this year. It specifically calls for $18 billion cuts from NIH (about 40% of its $47 billion budget), $4 billion cuts from the CDC (about 50%), and the National Science Foundation (55%) (55%). This also drives the entire sector within these institutions as part of the presumptive reorganization, including part of the reorganization related to preventing mental health and gun violence. Meanwhile, the government is pushing to increase military spending by 13% to $1.01 trillion.
These recommendations are also called “slim” budgets because they do not cover any single expenditures from the federal government. They are often seen as symbolic because ultimately it was the reason Congress passed the federal budget. But this may not be possible this time.
First, Republicans control the two Capitols. Second, the Trump White House has tried (an upcoming legal challenge) to cut some of the scientific and public health funding specified by the previous budget, suggesting it won’t be so vulnerable.
These cuts may result in the loss of knowledge, resources and even potential human life.
NIH has long been driving major medical breakthroughs and weight in treatment. For example, a 2018 study found that NIH-funded research contributed to the development of each new drug approved in the United States from 2010 to 2016. Another 2023 study found that NIH invested as much in the pharmaceutical industry as the pharmaceutical industry between 2010 and 2019, mainly NIH-funded studies, which are mainly in early research, which means a certain study or a new study of VET. NIH has helped achieve one of many success stories? Ultimately leading to the development of Ozempic's GLP-1 drug.
Meanwhile, the CDC is the backbone of the country’s public health system, helping support state and local health departments across the country. These departments rely on CDC for comprehensive laboratory testing and other resources. Among many other features, the CDC helps to lift our cruise ships out of norovirus and other stomach problems, or at least they do so until Trump bravely put the CDC full-time staff into the program. The proposed budget cuts could also reveal the progress we face in deadly public health crises such as deadly public health crises such as drug overdose, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
Don't worry, though – Trump's budget does offer $500 million to make the United States healthy again (Maha), a signed initiative by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But he has so far been amid the huge funding and layoffs of the Department of Health and Human Services, his Department of Health and Human Services layoffs, and some of the cuts proposed by the Trump budget will target programs related to heart disease and other chronic diseases. Jr. Jr. also regularly vomits misinformation about vaccine safety and autism. He is also a loyal believer in chemical cargo, one of the stupidest conspiracy theories out there – he recently said he appointed someone to investigate what he believed was a sinister force behind.
The Trump administration currently and proposed budget cuts everything from the quality of our milk to preventing vaccines that have returned from once catalyzed diseases such as measles. The impact of this drainage will be felt now and for a long time in the future.
