The Trump administration has reversed a decision to cut nearly $2 billion in federal grants supporting mental health and addiction treatment programs, following swift backlash from lawmakers and advocates.
Thousands of grants administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration were abruptly terminated late Tuesday before the decision was reversed, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The cancellations would have affected 2,706 discretionary grants. The move was driven by political appointees within the Trump administration, not career officials at SAMHSA.
Lawmakers decry sudden funding reversal
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, criticized the administration’s actions, saying the grants should never have been cut.
“After national outrage, Secretary Kennedy has bowed to public pressure and reinstated $2 billion in SAMHSA grants that save lives,” DeLauro said in a statement. “These are cuts he should not have issued in the first place.”
The reason for the initial terminations was not immediately clear.
CBS News obtained a termination notice sent by a senior SAMHSA official stating that the agency was “terminating some of its awards in order to better prioritize agency resources” toward efforts addressing rising rates of mental illness, substance abuse, overdose and suicide.
But a source familiar with the agency said many of the canceled grants directly targeted those issues.
“This was not SAMHSA’s idea,” the source said. “This was money going to people on the ground who are providing mental health treatment, substance use treatment, recovery support and prevention resources — which this administration says is a priority.”
Programs serving communities nationwide
SAMHSA, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, oversees national initiatives aimed at addressing substance abuse and mental illness while distributing funding to states and local organizations that provide treatment and prevention services.
Among the grants affected was one providing roughly $15 million annually to the Opioid Response Network, which offers evidence-based training and education to local officials overseeing substance use prevention, treatment and recovery programs.
Another canceled grant provided about $6 million to the Building Communities of Recovery program, which funds community-based efforts to expand long-term recovery support for individuals with substance use disorders.
Broader health policy context
The episode comes amid broader Trump administration efforts to reduce federal health spending. The administration has already enacted sweeping Medicaid cuts that are expected to affect a wide range of public health services, including some focused on mental health and addiction treatment, with the full impact set to take effect later this year.
