Funding at Risk: Advocating for Injury and Violence Prevention in Congress

While all eyes are on the need for Congress to enact a continuing resolution to keep government agencies funded as we start the new fiscal year, it’s important to take stock of the progress made to date in protecting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (Injury Center) from any effort to reduce or eliminate its budget and the need to remain engaged as the appropriations process advances.

Appropriators in the House and Senate recently signaled their interest in continuing to support Injury Center-administered programs. However, members of the House Appropriations Committee approved their FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill that sought to eliminate funding for several Injury Center programs of interest to the injury and violence prevention (IVP) research community. The bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee, if enacted, would zero-out funding that supports, the firearm violence prevention research agenda, Injury Control Research Centers, and the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS).

Thankfully, in response to the direct engagement in the policymaking process by members of the IVP community, appropriators in the Senate approved their version of the bill that aims to maintain current funding for all three programs. Specifically, the Senate bill proposes to fund the Injury Center at its current funding level of $761 million, while the House bill seeks to fund the Injury Center at $665 million.

Earlier this year, the president submitted his FY 2026 budget request to Congress proposing to eliminate the Injury Center and divert its overdose death prevention and suicide prevention efforts to a new Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). Early reports indicated that House appropriators were likely to support the president’s proposal and the Injury Center became a target.

In response to this threat, the IVP community spent much of the summer educating policymakers about the value and impact of these programs. Your engagement helped thwart an attempt to eliminate the Injury Center and has delivered appropriation bills that provide the Injury Center with a proposed FY 2026 funding floor of $665 million and ceiling of $761 million. While not ideal, the alternative of having to conference a Senate bill with a House bill that eliminates all funding for the Injury Center, would be far worse. The next steps in the appropriations process include scheduling full consideration in each chamber of their respective bills before advancing to a conference committee negotiation process to iron out the differences between both bills. As the appropriations end-game comes into focus, SAVIR will encourage your continued engagement in the policymaking process to help ensure FY 2026 funding for the firearm violence prevention research agenda, Injury Control Research Centers, and the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) are all protected.

Collectively, this community worked to protect large swaths of the Injury Center from elimination or a move to AHA. We must continue to engage and build on this success as the appropriations process advances and final decisions are made about funding for IVP programs.

Paul Bonta, Director, Government Relations

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