Senate Appropriators Reject Trump HIV Prevention Budget Cuts, While Maintaining Care, Treatment, and PrEP

Block Grant & Cuts to Hepatitis Prevention Also Rejected

Washington DC… Today, on a bipartisan basis, the Senate Appropriations Committee rejected the Trump administration’s proposed elimination of CDC’s HIV prevention and surveillance programs. On a vote of 26 to 3, the Committee approved the Fiscal Year 2026 Labor, HHS Appropriations bill that maintains funding for existing domestic HIV prevention along with the care, treatment, and PrEP programs that were included in the president’s budget.

“We are pleased that senators of both parties recognize the critical importance of preventing HIV in the United States and the value of nationwide surveillance, testing, education, and PrEP programs. The president’s proposed elimination of HIV prevention and surveillance programs, along with on and off staff and grant cuts and delays, have left HIV prevention in disarray. We hope the Senate’s vote of confidence for HIV prevention will start to bring the stability we need so that state and local health departments, other grantees, and staff can get back to doing their work,” commented Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute.

The Committee supported the president’s $542 million budget proposal to continue the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, which includes funding for PrEP in community health centers, and enhanced HIV prevention and treatment programs. While the president’s budget maintained, for the most part, funding for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, the Senate rejected the president’s $73 million proposed elimination of “Part F” of the nation’s HIV treatment program, which funds dental reimbursements, clinical training, and community-driven implementation research.

The Committee maintained funding for SAMHSA’s Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative programs ($119 million) but reduced the Secretary’s Minority HIV/AIDS Fund by $4 million to $56 million. And instead of cutting NIH research by 40 percent, the Committee increased it by $400 million.

Earlier this month, both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees rejected the Trump administration’s budget proposal to eliminate all $505 million for HUD’s Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program. While the House proposed to maintain the current funding level, the Senate proposed to increase it by $24 million.

The Committee also rejected the Trump budget proposal that would have block-granted hepatitis, STI, and tuberculosis funding to the states and eliminated $43 million in dedicated funding for hepatitis prevention at the CDC. Instead, the Senate is proposing to maintain the existing funding and infrastructure.

Schmid concluded, “While HIV treatment has been largely maintained by the Trump administration, for HIV prevention it has been a very challenging year. We hope today marks a new beginning, which we hope will soon be duplicated in the House of Representatives. We trust the Trump administration will follow the law and distribute in a timely fashion funds that states, local governments, and community-based organizations rely on to carry out their public health responsibilities to address HIV and other infectious diseases.”

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The HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute is a national, non-profit organization whose mission is to promote quality and affordable healthcare for people living with or at risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other serious and chronic health conditions.