A preliminary budget document would reportedly cut the Department of Health and Human Services‘s discretionary spending by roughly $40 billion next year.
The 64-page budget request draft from the Office of Management and Budget would reduce the agency’s spending by a third to $80 billion for fiscal 2026 and reorganize much of HHS, according to a report on the preliminary document by the Washington Post.
The report claims the document outlines that the National Institutes of Health would see its budget cut from $47 billion to $27 billion, while its 27 institutes would be merged into eight. The preliminary document also calls for $20 billion toward the Administration for a Healthy America, focusing on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” efforts, alongside environmental health and HIV agencies.
“Reaching balance requires: resetting the proper balance between federal and state responsibilities with a renewed emphasis on federalism; eliminating the federal government’s support of woke ideology; protecting the American people by deconstructing a wasteful and weaponized bureaucracy; and identifying and eliminating wasteful spending,” the document said, per the report.
A report from Politico on the OMB document states that it would cut some HIV prevention initiatives and regular Food and Drug Administration inspections at food facilities. Other cuts would include federal programs that focus on autism, drug abuse, and mental health.
An OMB spokesperson told the outlet that “no final funding decisions have been made” with the preliminary document.
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The Trump administration’s efforts with the Department of Government Efficiency have cut much of the federal bureaucracy, aiming to eliminate waste and fraud throughout the various executive branch agencies.
The fiscal 2026 budget request is expected to be submitted to Congress within the next few months, far ahead of the end of fiscal 2025 at the end of September.