R47207 — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Funding Overview

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works to protect public health by providing leadership, information, and scientific expertise in preventing and controlling diseases, including outbreaks of infectious diseases. CDC also works to promote health and quality of life, by supporting and undertaking efforts that aim to prevent and control injury, disability, and environmental health threats. In addition, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), headed by the CDC Director, is tasked with identifying potential public health effects from exposure to hazardous substances. This CRS report provides an overview of CDC’s budget and appropriations, with a focus on FY2026 enacted appropriations, including ATSDR. The report also discusses supplemental appropriations for CDC. This report divides CDC’s program level, or annual funding from all sources of budget authority, into two categories, with a focus on the first: A core public health program level that funds most of the agency’s main public health programs. This is made up of discretionary and mandatory appropriations that are mostly provided or allocated through the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) appropriations act. Other mandatory programs that include several CDC-administered health services, compensation-related, and user fee programs. These include the World Trade Center Health Program and user fees for cruise ship inspection, among others. CDC’s enacted FY2026 core public health program level is $9.227 billion, which represents a $21 million (-0.2%) decrease from the FY2025 final core public health program level. Accounting for mandatory funding for FY2026, CDC is estimated to receive $16.266 billion in FY2026, a decrease of $459 million (-2.7%) compared with the FY2025 level inclusive of mandatory funding. The Trump Administration has proposed an FY2027 CDC core public health program level of $5.485 billion and has also proposed to move several CDC programs to different HHS agencies and offices, and to eliminate other CDC programs. In terms of trends, CDC saw relatively flat funding from FY2011 to FY2021, where CDC’s core public health funding level remained between approximately $6.5 and $8 billion until the increases provided in FY2022 and FY2023 (not adjusted for inflation). Since FY2023, CDC’s core public health funding level has remained relatively flat; CDC saw slight decreases in its core public health program level in FY2024 and FY2026 relative to the prior year. CDC also frequently receives one-time supplemental appropriations in response to specific incidents—such as infectious disease threats, natural disasters, or screening and health support to refugees. In response to some incidents, such as the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, supplemental appropriations have been substantial and were tied to short-term funding increases for overall public health capacity at the federal, state, and local level.

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