About & Methodology

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the Presidential Budget request in May 2025, followed by the release of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Budget in Brief and Congressional Justifications for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) in early June 2025. This dashboard was developed to present data on the funding and programmatic changes proposed for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, which begins on October 1, 2025. It aims to raise awareness and promote transparency using the most current information provided on the scope and type of funding and personnel changes. Analyses were performed entirely using publicly-available data sources. As more information becomes available, data in these reports may be updated to reflect evolving developments. 

Fiscal Year 2026 Proposed CDC Budget Data for Analysis

Data were obtained from the FY24 CDC Operating Plan, FY26 HHS Budget In Brief, and the FY26 Congressional Justification of Estimates for CDC and Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). The budget for each program and sub-program area were first extracted from the FY24 CDC Operating Plan under each main budget area. The following fields were then created:

Center/Office: The budget areas listed in the FY24 CDC Operating Plan. CDC budget lines represent the CDC appropriation accounts that provide funding for specific public health programs and functions. These generally align with the CDC Centers/Offices at the agency.

Program: The program budget lines outlined in the FY24 CDC Operating Plan under each main budget area/category. For example, “Influenza Planning and Response” is a budget line under the budget area “Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.”

Sub-Program: Specific sub-programs appropriated funds in the FY24 CDC Operating Plan under the broader program areas. For example, “School Health - HIV” was a sub-program listed under the “Domestic HIV/AIDS Prevention and Research" broader program area.

Current Program Budget: The budget listed for each program in FY24. Because a budget was not passed for FY25, CDC has been operating under a Continuing Resolution and the funding remained the same for FY25.

FY26 Program Budget CJ Report: Proposed FY26 budget for each program area based on CDC and AHA submissions in the FY26 Congressional Justification (CJ) report. If no budget was listed, the amount is shown as zero.

Funding Status: Labeled program areas as “Eliminated” if they (1) appeared in the FY24 appropriations report but had no corresponding budget line item in the FY26 CDC Congressional Justification Report, or (2) were explicitly proposed for elimination in the Congressional Justification Report or 2026 HHS In Brief Budget, and “Maintained” if they appeared in both. Programs identified as moving to the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) were coded as “Moved to AHA” and programs identified as moving to the HHS Office of the Secretary were coded as “Moved to OS (Office of the Secretary).”

Fiscal Year 2023 Grant Funding Analysis

Data are from CDC’s FY23 Grant Funding Profiles, the most recent available information on grants awarded to states, local jurisdictions, tribes, territories, and other organizations aligned with CDC congressional appropriations lines. Because CDC has been operating under a Continuing Resolution and funding levels have remained largely stable, FY23 data provide a reasonable estimate for FY24 and FY25 funding and help illustrate which grants may be affected by the proposed changes. The Congressional budget data includes budget amounts by major category, generally corresponding to CDC’s Centers and by program-related subcategory in the grant funding profiles.

To facilitate analysis, the following columns were added to the FY23 data:

Agency Codes: CDC Centers were extracted from the two-letter CDC center codes within NOFO numbers.

At-Risk RIF: Compared each NOFO to the terminated divisions/branches and marked as “At Risk = Yes” if it was administered by a RIF’d division.

Geographic Region: U.S. regions (North, South, East, West)

State Abbreviation: US standard abbreviations for each state.

State Population: 2023 Census population to calculate per capita funding. 

Per Capita Funding: Amount of funding allocated or spent for each person in the population calculated by dividing the funding by the population in the state awarded funding.

Status CJ Report: Labeled program areas as “Eliminated” if they (1) appeared in the FY24 appropriations report but had no corresponding budget line item in the FY26 CDC Congressional Justification Report, or (2) were explicitly proposed for elimination in the Congressional Justification Report or 2026 HHS In Brief Budget, and “Maintained” if they appeared in both. Programs identified as moving to the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) were coded as “Moved to AHA” and programs identified as moving to the Office of the Secretary were coded as “Moved to OS (Office of the Secretary).”

Type of Funding: Using information from the FY24 CDC Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees and CDC supplemental funding information, classified programs as:

(1) Mandatory (Vaccines for Children; World Trade Center Health Program; Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act; Prevention and Public Health Fund-supported programs.

(2) Supplemental (Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020; Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act; Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act; Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021; and American Rescue Plan Act of 2021; Hurricane Supplemental)

(3) Discretionary (Default classification for programs not identified as mandatory or supplemental)