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- Increased Funds for CDC in White House Budget Proposal; Adds New Health Care Agency
President Joe Biden’s 2021 budget recommendation to Congress released on April 9 called for an additional $8.7 billion for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and a 23% boost to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The proposed budget also asked Congress for $6.5 billion to create a new federal agency under the National Institutes of Health, called the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which would focus on cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease research.
The request is President Biden’s first discretionary spending proposal, a predecessor to the full annual budget, will address Medicare and Medicaid programs, to be released later in the year. Even though the president proposes the federal government's budget, Congress controls spending and must pass appropriations funding legislation.
Other areas that the proposed budget asks for include $10.7 billion in funding for the campaign to Help End the Opioid Epidemic. The amount for the program would represent an increase of $3.9 billion over the 2021 enacted level, to support research, prevention, treatment, and recovery support services. Additionally, the administration asked for $8.7 billion for the CDC, which would represent the largest budget authority increase in nearly two decades. The CDC would use this additional funding to support core public health capacity improvements in states and territories, modernize public health data collection nationwide, train new epidemiologists and other public health experts, and build international capacity to detect, prepare for, and respond to emerging global threats.