Trump Admin. Reverses $2 Billion Cuts to Behavioral Health After Fierce 24-Hour Backlash

On Wednesday morning, many public health professionals supporting addiction, mental health, and homelessness programs woke up to the news that their programs were being suddenly and unceremoniously cut by the federal government. The scale of the cuts was reportedly $2 billion across more than 2,000 organizations nationwide. It seemed that overnight, thousands of people were out of a job, potentially hundreds of organizations would be forced to shut down, and people who need these services would be left out in the cold. All this was happening suddenly, without public statement, explanation, or even a plan.

By Thursday morning, less than 24 hours later, the funding was restored.

Strong Pushback Forced Reversal

The Trump administration isn't saying who ordered the cuts or why they were reversed. The New York Times reported that the decision to reverse was made after furious blowback from national health experts and lawmakers of both parties, including a letter from over 100 House members to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Just last month, President Trump signed the SUPPORT Act into law, reauthorizing funding to "address substance use disorders, overdoses, and mental health." The bill passed the Senate with unanimous support and was advanced in the House by a 366-57 vote.

"These clawbacks confirm my worst fears that the administration had no intention of following Congress’s bipartisan efforts to support mental health and addiction treatment," Representative Paul Tonko (D-NY) told the New York Times.

Polls show that 73% of Americans oppose cuts to federal jobs and programs that support mental health, opioid treatment, and suicide prevention.

Trump Administration Priorities

The only explanation offered for these cuts was a form letter sent to programs being cut, stating that their services no longer "aligned" with the administration's priorities. Those priorities did not include these programs they tried to cut:

• $20 million for the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, which last year trained half a million doctors, nurses, and social workers nationwide on how treat people addicted to opioids. (New York Times)
• $5.2 million for emergency medical services in Missouri to train staff to reverse overdoses and connect people to mental health and addiction treatment programs. (New York Times)
• $1.8 million for the Haymarket Center in Chicago, Illinois, to support employment training for homeless people. (New York Times)
• $347,000 for National Alliance on Mental Illness programs in New Hampshire to support families and communities with children who have mental illnesses. (New York Times)
• $290,000 for the Addiction Prevention Coalition in Birmingham, Alabama, to prevent suicide, underage drinking, and drug use. (New York Times)
• Funding for the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to offer free mental health training in K-12 schools. (APA)
• Funding for Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Government's Project AWARE, "focused on reducing youth suicides, addressing school-based trauma and supporting resilience in and outside schools." (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

The cuts would have also hit drug courts, programs that support pregnant and postpartum women, training for first responders, addiction recovery programs, and more.

Lessons Learned for Public Health

Don't let the reversal fool you. The Trump administration is telling us its vision for public health does not include these programs, and it's willing to ignore laws to cut them. But there are also other lessons to learn from this mess: our work is political, and fighting back works.

This quick reversal is a testament to the decades of hard work of activists, experts, and people struggling with addiction and mental health to reshape the narrative and build a broad coalition of support. They've reframed substance use from a criminal issue into a public health one. Not that things are perfect, but in this case, the coalition was resilient enough to quickly and successfully push back on these cruel, unwarranted cuts.

Public health professionals across the board must recognize that our work is inherently political, and when we organize, we can win these battles.

Follow Contagion for more updates on public health, politics, and media.