How awful?
The Trump administration has moved to cancel roughly $600 million in CDC grants that include HIV and STD prevention and surveillance funding to four Democrat-led states. However, the cuts are now being challenged in court and at least temporarily blocked.
The cuts target California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota.
Why?
Trump is trying to cancel the money for a mix of ideological, political, and “priority-setting” reasons, framed by the administration as a reprioritization of public health but widely seen by critics as targeted retaliation against Democratic states and LGBTQ‑focused programs.
HHS says it is cutting these grants “because they do not reflect agency priorities,” after a 2025 policy shift that labeled some health‑equity efforts “ideologically laden” and contrary to “core American values.”
CDC revised its priorities away from programs focused on specific populations, which hits many HIV/STD grants that are tailored to Black women and LGBTQ communities, including men who have sex with men.
Public health experts warn that cutting these funds will weaken HIV outbreak detection, reduce access to HIV testing, hamper PrEP outreach, and generally erode STD control efforts in the affected states.
Legal and political fight
Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota have sued HHS and the administration, arguing that the cuts are unlawful retaliation over immigration and other policy disputes and that they attach new conditions to funding that Congress has already appropriated. Also, a federal judge in Illinois has issued a temporary restraining order blocking the administration from rescinding the public health grants for 14 days while litigation proceeds, finding the states likely to succeed on claims that the cuts are arbitrary, capricious, or unconstitutional.
So, for now, the $600 million in HIV/STD and broader public health funds are in legal limbo rather than fully canceled, but the administration’s clear policy direction is to pull them back.
Withholding grant money for HIV and STD prevention … Will that make America “great again”?
