A top House Democrat on Wednesday criticized the Trump administration for canceling thousands of substance-abuse and mental health grants and then reversing course, after some recipients said they began cutting staff. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision-making was “dangerous and haphazard.” She also said she hoped the reversal would serve as “a lesson learned.”
DeLauro’s comments came after the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) canceled about 2,000 grants on Tuesday night, representing nearly $2 billion in funding, according to an administration official who was not authorized to discuss the cuts publicly. By Wednesday evening, the cuts were reportedly being reversed, according to reports cited by The Associated Press.
The Associated Press reported that some grant recipients who had their funding canceled said they had not yet received word that the reinstatements were in effect. Some organizations said they made difficult decisions in response to the original cancellations, including laying off employees and canceling scheduled trainings before hearing that the agency’s action might be undone.
The Associated Press also reported that the reason for the reversal was not immediately clear, and that spokespeople for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday night.
Cuts and their reported reach
According to the report, the grant cancellations pulled back funding for a wide swath of discretionary grants and represented about a quarter of SAMHSA’s overall budget. The cuts built on other wide-ranging actions described in the report, including job elimination and freezing or canceling billions of dollars for scientific research.
The funding pullbacks, the report said, put at risk programs that provide direct mental health services, opioid treatment, drug prevention resources, peer support, and other assistance for communities affected by addiction, mental illness, and homelessness. Former SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Treatment director Yngvild Olsen said, “Without that funding, people are going to lose access to lifesaving services.”
Letters and a cited termination rule
SAMHSA notified grant recipients that their funding would be canceled effective immediately in emailed letters on Tuesday evening, according to several copies reviewed by The Associated Press. The letters were signed by SAMHSA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Christopher Carroll and, according to the report, justified the terminations using a regulation stating the agency may terminate a federal award that “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities.”
Grant recipients who were notified of the cancellations told the Associated Press they were confused by that explanation and did not receive further detail about why their work was viewed as no longer matching SAMHSA’s priorities.
Jamie Ross, CEO of the Las Vegas-based PACT Coalition, said the organization’s goal “is entirely in line with the priorities listed in that letter,” and he said the group lost funding from three grants totaling $560,000.
Providers say they already started responding
Organizations that were affected by the Tuesday cancellations told the AP they had already begun cutting staff and canceling trainings, and that they were considering in the long term whether they could keep services running by shifting them to other funding sources. Others said they were weighing whether they would need to stop programs altogether.
Robert Franks, CEO of the Boston-based Baker Center for Children and Families, said the Tuesday loss of two federal grants totaling $1 million would force his organization to lay off staff and put care in jeopardy for some 600 families. He said one of the canceled grants was awarded through the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, a program that supports specialized care for children who have been through traumatic events. The Associated Press reported that Franks could not be reached late Wednesday to respond to the news of reinstatements.
Both Ross and Ryan Hampton, founder of the advocacy nonprofit Mobilize Recovery, told the Associated Press they had not yet been notified of any reversal to the grant cuts they had been told about on Tuesday night.
Association letter cites estimates and potential exceptions
The National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors, which represents local organizations that deliver safety-net services, sent a letter to its members on Wednesday. The group said in the letter that multiple partners estimated the slashed grants totaled around 2,000 and likely amounted to some $2 billion, and that the funding pullbacks appeared to focus on grants classified as Programs of Regional and National Significance.
The association also said it believed certain block grants, 988 suicide and crisis lifeline funding, and Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics were spared from the cuts.