DPA + LAC Federal Funding Cuts – Methods

The data in this project were gathered from a variety of sources, including news reporting, information made public by the federal government, and unofficial reporting led by current and former members of the government. The research team focused on finding concrete information related to staffing, departmental, and budgetary cuts to four federal agencies focused on substance use disorder treatment. This included both realized cuts and proposed cuts demonstrated by the Trump administration’s 2027 budget proposal.

Below is a list of resources that were helpful for gathering this data.

• Staffing 
  • The New York Times Federal Work Force Cuts tracker (last updated May 12, 2025): https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/28/us/politics/trump-doge-federal-job-cuts.html
  • Through a contact at SAMHSA, a LAC staff member was able to receive this reporting document created by former and current SAMHSA staff about changes to the agency (last updated May 13, 2025).
  • Reuters, US CDC restores jobs for 450 laid-off employees (last updated June 11, 2025): https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/us-cdc-restores-jobs-450-laid-off-employees-2025-06-11/
  • CNN, Tracking Trump’s overhaul of the federal workforce (last updated July 14, 2025): https://www.cnn.com/politics/tracking-federal-workforce-firings-dg
  • Government Executive, CDC employees sort through chaotic ‘outbreak of firings’ followed by some reversals (October 15, 2025): https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/10/cdc-employees-sort-through-chaotic-outbreak-firings-followed-some-reversals/408818/
  • Stat News, Trump cuts have decimated the federal addiction and mental health agency (October 30, 2025): https://www.statnews.com/2025/10/30/samhsa-grant-cuts-staff-reductions-impact-analyzed/

• Departments and Budgetary
  • The Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System was a helpful resource for gathering data about grant expenditures.
    • This spreadsheet included detailed information about grants that had been terminated from HHS agencies: https://taggs.hhs.gov/Content/Data/HHS_Grants_Terminated.pdf
    • This website also showed historical data about federal spending for specific grant programs. For example: https://taggs.hhs.gov/Detail/CFDADetail?arg_CFDA_NUM=93276
  • To demonstrate how much funding the administration proposes cutting, our team examined specific line items or programs in the 2027 budget documents and compared these to previous years’ funding levels.
    • The 2027 HHS Budget-in-Brief: https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/fy-2027-budget-in-brief.pdf
    • The 2027 President’s Budget request: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/budget_fy2027.pdf
    • The 2027 budget appendix: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/appendix_fy2027.pdf

Here are explanations for a few specific numbers reported in this tracker.

• Total federal cuts that have been made to treatment, overdose prevention, and other health services as of January 30th, 2026: $333 million 
  • This overall number was calculated by adding up all terminated grants related to drugs, drug use, addiction, and overdose from this database of terminated SAMHSA grants ($245 million, source)
  • We then added this number to the known DOJ cuts to mental health and substance use disorders ($88 million, source).

• Total anticipated funding cuts to CDC, SAMHSA, NIH, and DOJ in 2027: $10 billion 
  • This overall number was calculated by adding up the proposed funding reductions to each of these agencies, as demonstrated by the 2027 budget and comparisons to 2026 levels.
    • $2.9 billion from CDC (source)
    • $752.9 million from SAMHSA (source)
    • $5 billion from NIH (source)
    • $1.4 billion from DOJ (source)

• National Center for Injury Prevention and Control: $173 million cut in funding in 2027, moved out of CDC
  • The 2027 CDC budget eliminates the Injury Prevention Center, while the HHS budget calls for $588 million in funding for this center. The Center would be moved from the CDC to the newly-formed Administration for a Healthy America.
  • The funding would cut over $173 million from current funding levels, which was calculated by subtracting $588 million from approximately $761 million, which was the Center’s FY 2026 budget.
• Reductions to SAMHSA block grants in 2026: $100 million less 
  • The administration proposes consolidating three block grants into a “Behavioral Health Innovation Block Grant,” which would be funded at a total of $4.62 billion.
  • The $100 million decrease was calculated by subtracting the 2026 appropriated amounts for each of the three individual grants.
    • $4.62 billion (formerly the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, Recovery Support Services Block Grant + Community Mental Health Services Block Grant + State Opioid Response Block Grant) – $4.52 billion (Behavioral Health Innovation Block Grant) = $0.100 billion 
• Total federal cuts that have been made to drug research funded by NIH: $41.3 million  
  • This overall number was calculated by adding up all terminated grants related to drug use, substance use disorders, and overdose from this database of terminated NIH research grants in 2025.
  • To come to this estimate, we identified $1.107 billion in cancelled drug-related grants (we identified grants with NIH spending categories such as ‘drug abuse,’ ‘substance misuse,’ ‘substance use prevention,’ ‘methamphetamine,’ and a dozen other related categories). The majority of these grants had been approved for funding years ago, with an estimated $538 million in funds that had already been disbursed by the time that funding was cancelled. This means most grants were terminated before they were able to complete their studies, analyze their findings, and disseminate the results. However, this list also includes grants that had been recently approved but never received funding.
  • After widespread public outcry and pressure from Congress, we identified 118 addiction research grants that had been reinstated, representing a total of $535.5 million.
  • We also identified 70 still canceled NIH grants, which represents a total of $41.3 million.
• Consolidating two NIH institutes into one and cutting them by $165 million 
  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) would be combined into the National Institute of Substance Use and Addiction Research, which would be funded at $2.097 billion in 2027 (HHS FY27 Budget-in-Brief p. 24).
  • The $165 million was calculated by looking at the difference between the National Institute of Substance Use and Addiction Research’s total funding and 2026 actual funding levels for the two composite institutes (Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026, p. 189).
    • 2026 budget of NIDA: $1.662 billion
    • 2026 budget of NIAAA: $595 million
    • 2026 Total budgets for these institutes: $2.262 billion