Feds cutting public health funding for Colorado, three other states
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The Trump administration will cut $600 million in public health funds for four Democratic-led states, including Colorado, according to reports.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will cut funding for programs in Colorado, California, Illinois and Minnesota, according to multiple news outlets, including The New York Times and The New York Post, which first reported the cuts. A spokesperson for the administration said the states were being targeted for “waste and mismanagement” of taxpayer funds.
The funds include grants administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for certain state functions as well as programs supporting specific communities.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has not received any official notification regarding grant reductions or terminations and therefore cannot confirm specific cuts, according to Jessica Forsyth, director of the office of STI/HIV and viral hepatitis.
The New York Times reported that $371,000 slated for the Colorado Health Network Inc., which helps people in Colorado with or at risk of acquiring HIV, would be cut.
“Colorado consistently exceeds federal expectations in delivering HIV prevention and care through systems designed to protect continuity of services,” Forsyth said in a statement. “Colorado’s HIV efforts are built on long-standing partnerships with community-based organizations, local public health agencies, and clinical providers that are deeply embedded in communities across the state.”
A HHS spokesperson said in a statement to Newsline that the grants marked for termination “do not reflect agency priorities.”
Many of the affected funds were already appropriated by Congress. The Trump administration has frozen and cut billions of dollars in public health and medical research funds, and state attorneys general have sued to stop those freezes.
Colorado has been a repeated target of funding cuts from the Trump administration. It previously denied the state’s requests for federal assistance to support flood and wildfire recovery efforts and froze child care and social service program funding.
