DeLauro: Trump Administration’s Gutting of CDC Will Leave Americans Sicker and More Vulnerable to Deadly Diseases

Firing Thousands of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Employees Means We Cannot Keep Americans Safe from the Next Deadly Disease

WASHINGTON – House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro is warning of the fatal consequences of unelected billionaire and self-appointed president Elon Musk’s crippling of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By slashing CDC’s workforce, President Trump and unchecked billionaires are leaving Americans more exposed to disease, illness, and death.

“Elon Musk – an unchecked billionaire – President Donald Trump, and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are continuing their assault on Americans’ health,” said Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro. “In the midst of a severe flu season, and as a potentially deadly avian flu outbreak threatens to raise the stakes for public health even further, firing thousands of highly skilled employees – including doctors – will make Americans sicker, weaker, and more vulnerable to avoidable death. These cuts reverse progress in the fight against deadly diseases like cancer and diseases that had been previously eradicated in America like polio. This does not lower costs for families as Trump promised he would. Instead, it tells them they are on their own.”

In this move, Trump and Musk have reportedly fired 135 members of the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS). This is nearly half of the staff.

“EIS officers are at the frontline of public health emergencies. They are on the ground when outbreaks occur so that we can contain diseases before they reach the United States. We will not know the outcome of decimating this program until it’s too late – until Americans are dying from a disease we could have contained before it spread. This is nothing short of terrifying,” DeLauro continued.

Additional Information on CDC’s Critical Work

• CDC administers the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, which provides recommended vaccines (such as the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine) to millions of children in low-income families — saving lives and protecting communities from outbreaks of disease.
• 80 percent of CDC’s domestic funding is disbursed across the country and many State health departments receive the majority of their funding from CDC. Communities depend on an effective CDC workforce to make sure that money is spent effectively. 
• CDC serves as the primary source of funding, technical assistance, and accountability for public health and prevention programs at the State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial levels. CDC supports state and local health departments and laboratories to respond to daily risks of foodborne illnesses and infectious disease outbreaks.
• Hospitals and health systems work with CDC staff to prepare for and respond to emerging health threats — including the active bird flu and tuberculosis outbreaks, drug-resistant infections, suicide, and opioid overdose. These partnerships have contained numerous infectious disease threats before they became outbreaks and helped turn the tide on the opioid epidemic.
• CDC is the national hub for public health data — identifying health threats (such as overdose deaths or early signs of respiratory viruses) so local health leaders can respond, as well as providing real-time data to enable communities to direct patients to hospitals with available beds.
• CDC has world-class experts — epidemiologists, lab technicians, data scientists, medical officers, and other scientific expertise — and supports communities to maintain expertise in their state and local health departments. Repeated public health emergencies and outbreaks have shown that responses require coordination, expertise, and resources that come from across CDC.
• CDC is the reason we can detect and respond to outbreaks, we have made progress on the opioid overdose crisis, and State health departments can protect people after natural disasters. 

Ranking Member DeLauro’s statement on National Institutes of Health (NIH) layoffs is here.

Last week, the Trump Administration imposed an unlawful policy cap to indirect costs for NIH. Read Ranking Member DeLauro’s statement here.

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