Washington, DC, February 11, 2020 – The National Association of County and City Health Officials, on behalf the nation’s nearly 3,000 local health departments, released the following statement in response to the President’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget proposal. The President’s budget proposal, if enacted, would reduce non-defense spending by 5% and would cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by 9%. It also would cut $292 billion from safety net programs that keep people healthy, including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
“While the proposed budget includes a few highlights—including increased funding for the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, vector-borne diseases, the infectious disease complications of substance misuse, flu efforts, and additional resources to modernize the public health data infrastructure—it does so on the backs of many other public health programs,” said Adriane Casalotti, MPH, MSW, NACCHO Chief of Government and Public Affairs.
“Some critical areas for investment would stagnate as a direct result of these dramatic cuts.”
– Adriane Casalotti, MPH, MSW, NACCHO Chief of Government and Public Affairs
“Some critical areas for investment would stagnate as a direct result of these dramatic cuts. For example, CDC immunization funding would remain stagnant—and the HHS office that handles immunization policy would be slashed almost in half—despite measles outbreaks that almost cost our nation its measles elimination status. Resources to combat sexually transmitted diseases see no increases, despite the fact that we are at crisis levels. And the critical Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program would continue to have only two-thirds of the resources it needs, despite it being the backbone of funding for local and state health departments to prepare for threats like the novel coronavirus.
“Other programs of critical need fare far worse—cuts to antimicrobial resistance funding, despite CDC’s own research that highlights the issue is more encompassing than previously thought; cuts to work on birth defects and disability; cuts to environmental health and climate work; cuts to the public health workforce; as well as surveillance, epidemiology, and informatics; the list goes on. Perhaps the most egregious is a 34% cut to the agency’s work to prevent chronic disease and keep people healthy, despite the fact that we know that chronic disease costs are an immense burden on our healthcare system and in our communities.
“Cutting CDC funding during an emergency is shortsighted and dangerous. When it comes to ensuring the health and safety of our communities, it should not be an either/or. We urge Congress to provide sufficient funding for CDC to deal with everyday threats like diabetes, heart disease, and foodborne illness at the same time they are responding to infectious disease threats like coronavirus.”
# # #
About NACCHO
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the nation’s nearly 3,000 local governmental health departments. These city, county, metropolitan, district, and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities. For more information about NACCHO, please visit www.naccho.org.
