$600 million in Trump administration health cuts will hit California HIV programs
WASHINGTON— Public health experts warned Tuesday: $600 million cut Federal public health funding announced by the Trump administration would jeopardize one of California’s main early warning systems for HIV outbreaks, leaving communities vulnerable to undetected disease spread.
The end of the grants affects funding for a number of disease control programs in California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota, but the vast majority are targeted at California, according to congressional Democrats who received the full list of affected programs on Monday. The move is the latest in the White House’s campaign against what it calls “radical gender ideology” at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“These cuts will harm vital efforts to prevent the spread of the disease,” said Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). “Dangerous and deliberate.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Under his direction, the CDC has increasingly moved away from evidence-based HIV monitoring and prevention programs, claiming they “undermine core American values.”
The halt will derail $1.1 million allocated to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health National HIV Behavioral Surveillance ProjectAccording to the president’s budget office.
Dr. D., an epidemiologist at the UCLA Fielding School and former chief scientific officer of the county’s public health department. Paul Simon said the program was a “critical” tool used to detect emerging HIV trends, prevent epidemics before they spread and reduce HIV cases.
“Without this program, we would be flying blind. The first step in addressing any public health threat is understanding what’s happening on the ground,” Simon said. “Especially with HIV, people often have no symptoms for years and can spread the virus without knowing.”
The White House has offered little explanation for the move, but has claimed that the programs it targets “promote DEI and radical gender ideology.”
Simon retracted the claim, calling the move “dangerous” and “shortsighted”.
“It is particularly dangerous to bury your head in the sand and pretend there are no problems,” Simon said. “Our success over the last decade is due to detecting cases early. … By treating people early, we can prevent transmission.”
Many local front-line service providers were targeted by the cuts, including the Los Angeles LGBT Center, which will lose $383,000 in investments in community HIV prevention programs.
The LGBT Center has not received official notice of the elimination but said the cuts would disproportionately impact LGBTQ+ communities and other underserved communities.
“These decisions are driven by politics, not public health evidence, and the consequences are real,” said LGBT Center spokesman Brian De Los Santos. “Any reduction in funding directly impacts our ability to provide care, prevention and life-saving services to the people who rely on us.”
The cuts announced by the Trump administration are likely to face challenges from states and grant recipients.
The LGBT Center managed to avoid similar grant cancellations resulting from the president’s executive orders last year. A federal judge in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction ruling that the administration cannot use executive orders to “weaponize funds appropriated by Congress” to circumvent legal funding obligations.
“We are prepared to file further lawsuits against this administration if necessary to protect our community,” De Los Santos said.
The White House has repeatedly pressed California and other Democratic-led states to stop the flow of billions of dollars; It was a strategy that sharpened partisan tensions and expanded the scope of California’s legal fight against the administration.
In January, administration officials said they would freeze $10 billion in federal child care, welfare and social services funding for California and four other states, but a federal judge blocked that effort.
Trump then said he would begin blocking federal funds to “sanctuary” areas like California and Los Angeles, which have long opposed cooperation with federal immigration agencies.
Last year, the administration made sweeping cuts to federal funding for minority-serving institutions, leaving California colleges scrambling to figure out how to replace or go without money. Federal officials have argued that such programs constitute racial discrimination.
In June, California congressional Democrats demanded the release of $19.8 million. frozen HIV prevention grants To the LA County Department of Public Health. The freeze forced the county to terminate contracts with 39 community health providers and virtually shut down HIV testing and other services at the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
Management reverse route After sustained pressure from Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Burbank) and 22 of her fellow House Democrats.
“These donations save lives,” Friedman said of the recent layoffs. “They connect the homeless with care, support frontline organizations fighting HIV, and build the public health infrastructure that protects my constituents. I will not stop fighting back, just as I did when the Trump Administration went after our communities.”
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) said in a letter to Kennedy last year that the Cabinet secretary has a history of peddling misinformation about the virus and disease.
Garcia wrote that Kennedy’s motivations were “based not on sound science but on misinformation and disinformation about HIV and AIDS that you have previously spread, including your repeated claim that HIV does not cause AIDS.”
Governor Gavin Newsom called President Trump’s recent threats to public health funding a “familiar pattern” and cast doubt on their long-term legal viability.
“The President is openly claiming, without offering any specifics or formal notice, that he will strip public health funding from states that vote against him,” Newsom said. “If and when the Trump administration takes action, we will respond appropriately. Until then, we will stop participating in his attempt to chase the headlines.”
