Federal Funding for ICRCs and Firearm Violence Prevention Research Can Be Saved

With the recent passage by Congress of the continuing resolution (CR) needed to end the government shutdown, lawmakers have turned their attention to the work required to finalize the various FY 2026 appropriation bills required to fund government agencies through next October. As the CR expires on January 30, 2026, lawmakers will have to work in earnest in the weeks ahead to agree on FY 2026 funding levels for government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (Injury Center).

SAVIR, in partnership with Safe States, has been working to influence funding in the FY2026 House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bills, as that is the bill that determines funding for the Injury Center. Despite the president’s budget request to Congress at the beginning of the year calling for the elimination of all Injury Center funding, including funding for Injury Control Research Centers (ICRCs) and firearm violence prevention research, House and Senate appropriators rejected the president’s request and included Injury Center funding in their respective bills, albeit at different levels.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the bill with full funding for all Injury Center-administered programs at $761 million, while the House Appropriations Committee moved to approve its bill with a more limited funding level of $665 million. The rejection of the president’s call to eliminate all Injury Center funding was no small feat, realized only through the direct engagement of the injury and violence prevention community in the policymaking process.

Additionally, it is important to note that the House bill provides $505 million to support the Injury Center’s work to address opioid overdose deaths, leaving precious few funds to support the many other programs under the Injury Center’s jurisdiction. As a result, the House bill seeks to eliminate funding for the ICRCs and firearm injury prevention research.

Given this loss of funding in the House bill, it is critically important to urge that House members support the proposed Injury Center funding levels for FY 2026 in the Senate’s Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill. The Senate bill fully funds the ICRC and firearm violence prevention research programs. The House bill does not.

As the negotiations to reconcile the funding differences between the two bills progress in the weeks ahead, members of the House will only acquiesce to the funding levels for the Injury Center in the Senate bill if they hear from their constituents urging them to do so.

The injury and violence prevention community has a prime opportunity to realize a historic win in saving the ICRC and firearm violence prevention research programs from their proposed elimination. However, it will take direct engagement in the policymaking process from the IVP research community to achieve this win!

To contact your Representative in Congress, please visit the Safe States’ advocacy action center, which has been updated with a message asking that House members support the Injury Center funding levels in the Senate bill. By investing 2 – 3 minutes of your time, you can join your colleagues in protecting the ICRC and firearm violence prevention research programs from elimination!

Paul Bonta, Director of Government Relations

Safe States