CONTACT: Dorrit Walsh, dorrit.walsh@treatmentactiongroup.org
September 25, 2025 – Treatment Action Group (TAG) and the Act Now: End AIDS (ANEA) Coalition strongly condemn the House Labor, Health and Human Services Committee’s proposed $2 billion in federal cuts to domestic HIV programs, including plans that would dismantle the CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention and slash $535 million from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. The House is also calling for the merging of CDC’s programs focused on the elimination of tuberculosis, STI prevention, and opioid-related infectious diseases, with a combined cut of $34 million – for a total of $300 million worth of funding cuts altogether. These proposals are cruel, unnecessary, and they will cost of lives.
The data are stark: roughly 1.2 million people are living with HIV in the U.S., with tens of thousands of new transmissions each year. While the U.S. has made some progress toward reducing new diagnoses of HIV annually, the effort to end the HIV epidemic (EHE) is far from over. With a 100% reduction in CDC prevention funding, amfAR estimates that by 2030 there will be an additional 127,382 people living with HIV in the U.S., 14,676 additional AIDS-related deaths, and an additional $60.3 billion in lifetime costs of HIV care.1 Cutting HIV prevention and HIV care now will produce far greater human and economic harms that will eclipse any short-term savings that the U.S. government can claim by making these short-sighted divestments from vital public health programs.
These funding cuts will not fall evenly. Black and Brown communities, people in rural areas, and residents throughout the U.S. South — where the HIV burden remains highest — would be hit first and hardest. Public health investments such as at-home testing programs, social media outreach that increases testing and PrEP awareness, and mobile testing units are proven, community-focused tools that reach people who face stigma, economic hardship, transportation barriers, and provider shortages. “The proposed cuts would devastate communities impacted by and living with HIV, and would eliminate critical programs at a time we need them the most”, says De’Ashia Lee, Director of the Act Now: End AIDS Coalition.
Eliminating the CDC’s prevention capacity and gutting Ryan White is not based on science or evidence. It ignores decades of public health data showing that targeted prevention and treatment drastically reduce transmissions, save lives, and reduce long-term costs. If enacted, this would take us backwards, toward an era of increases in preventable deaths of Americans and all communities will suffer needlessly.
TAG’s HIV Project Director Riko Boone said, “Thanks to innovations in HIV prevention, more and more people are now able to avoid acquiring HIV. However, further expanding this success requires continued investments in — not cuts to — prevention programs and services. At the same time, the life-expectancy and quality of life of people living with HIV have dramatically improved thanks to advances in HIV treatment and support services. Any proposed or enacted cuts to funding for HIV prevention and HIV treatment should be viewed as threats to public health and our ability to ever achieve an end to HIV.”
We urge people to tell their elected officials to say “No” to these cuts and to continue funding Ryan White preventative programs and EHE, and not to consolidate the CDC TB elimination, STI prevention, and opioid-related infectious diseases funding lines, and to maintain their funding levels. You can do this by calling the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224 3121 or go to https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member. With your help, we will prevail in preventing these monstrous proposed budget cuts.
1. amfAR. Cuts to the CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention will lead to dramatic rise in infections, deaths, and costs [Internet]. Washington (DC): The Foundation for AIDS Research; 2025 Mar 27 [cited 2025 Sep 18]. Available from: https://www.amfar.org/news/cuts-to-the-cdcs-division-of-hiv/
About TAG: Treatment Action Group (TAG) is an independent, activist and community-based research and policy think tank fighting for better treatment, prevention, a vaccine, and a cure for HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis C virus. TAG works to ensure that all people with HIV, TB, and HCV receive lifesaving treatment, care, and information. We are science-based treatment activists working to expand and accelerate vital research and effective community engagement with research and policy institutions.
About ANEA: ANEA is a national coalition of community-based organizations, health departments, national partners, and activists committed to ending the HIV epidemic in the United States.
# # #