The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare could lose millions of dollars in the latest round of federal funding cuts from the Trump administration.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has canceled over $12 billion in federal grants to states to help fight infectious diseases, provide addiction treatment, mental health services and other health-related issues, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
State health departments were notified Monday that the funds, apportioned during the COVID-19 pandemic, would be terminated immediately, according to The Times.
It’s unclear how much of the funds were allocated to Idaho. A spokesperson for Health and Welfare did not immediately respond Wednesday to questions or a request for a list of the rescinded grants. Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s press secretary did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Health and Human Services website that tracks government grants, also known as TAGGS, shows that Idaho was awarded a nearly $2.3 million grant this year from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, known as S.A.M.H.S.A., for substance abuse prevention, treatment and recovery services and about $1.3 million for community health services.
Health and Welfare was also awarded with more than $1.3 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for “public health crisis response” and other funds for sexually transmitted disease prevention and tuberculosis elimination.
The Times reported that the discontinued grants include about $1 billion from S.A.M.H.S.A. and $11.4 billion from the CDC.
Congress had authorized the funds for state public health programs as part of COVID-19 relief bills. The grants were initially used for testing and vaccination during the pandemic, but has since been approved to be used to combat other urgent public health concerns, toward other urgent public health concerns.
State health officials told The Times that the cuts mean thousands of health department employees and contract workers across the country could lose their jobs.
Alex Adams, the governor’s former budget chief and director of Health and Welfare since June, was appointed to a position in the Trump administration on Tuesday, according to a news release. Adams will serve as assistant secretary for the Administration of Children and Families at Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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