As a reminder, on May 2, the Administration released the President’s Budget Proposal for FY26 – colloquially referred to as a “Skinny Budget” – that provides a broad overview of funding requests for each federal agency for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26). While the proposal serves as a requested blueprint for federal spending, Congress ultimately holds the power to approve, reject, or revise the Administration’s recommendations as it crafts appropriations legislation. Read more about maternal and child health (MCH)-related proposals in the Skinny Budget in our June 6 Policy Alert.  

Further, more detailed, program-level budget requests are provided separately through congressional justification (CJ) documents. On June 7, the newly forming Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) released its agency-specific CJ with a FY26 budget of $20.6 billion. The CJ opened with an introductory message from Thomas J. Engels, the current HRSA Administrator, where he underscored AHA’s commitment to transforming the nation’s health, including by investing in a broad array of activities aimed at improving maternal health outcomes, addressing birth defects and developmental disabilities, preventing substance misuse, and promoting mental health and well-being. This portion of the budget proposal included: 

• (+) $47 million to the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program, which reflects mandatory funding levels 
• (+) $87 million to the National Health Service Corps 
• (+) $44 million to the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program 

Simultaneously, the proposal outlined significant decreases in and eliminations of key public health programs, such as: 

Decreases: 

• (-) $46.7 million to the Title V MCH Block Grant, specifically targeting Special Projects of Regional and National Significance (SPRANS) 
• (-) $18 million to Autism and Other Developmental Disorders 
• (-) $67.8 million to Behavioral Health Workforce Development Programs

Eliminations: 

• Healthy Start 
• Newborn Screening for Heritable Disorders 
• Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI; HRSA component only) 
• Emergency Medical Services for Children 
• Family Planning 
• Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education

Lastly, within AHA, several programs transferred from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are slated for major funding reductions or elimination, including:  

• (-) $1.4 billion by fully eliminating the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Includes elimination of: 
  • Division of Adolescent and School Health; 
  • Division of Oral Health; and 
  • Safe Motherhood/Infant Health line within the Division of Reproductive Health which funded programs such as ERASE MM (federal support for maternal mortality review committees), Perinatal Quality Collaboratives, the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring Systems (PRAMS), and more. 
• (-) $211.3 million to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Programs moving to AHA with requested funding include:  
  • National Violent Death Reporting System;  
  • Opioid Overdose Prevention and Surveillance;  
  • Intentional Injury; and  
  • A consolidated block grant encompassing Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence, Domestic Violence Community Projects, and the Rape Prevention Education Grant.
• (-) $25.3 million to the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD)

AMCHP is deeply concerned by any proposed cuts to critical MCH programs. We are committed to urging Congress to fund items such as the Title V MCH Block Grant at $1 billion in FY26, including increased investments to both the state formula fund and the Special Projects of Regional and National Significance (SPRANS), in recognition of the significant role the Title V MCH Block Grant plays in the health and well-being of our nation’s women, children, and families. 

AMCHP’s Government Affairs Team will continue to follow the FY26 appropriations process and provide additional updates. In the meantime, we encourage you to review the following resources for more information: 

• AMCHP Title V MCH Block Grant: FY26 Funding Ask Sheet
• AMCHP CDC Safe Motherhood Portfolio: FY26 Funding Ask Sheet
• AMCHP CDC SET-NET: FY26 Funding Ask Sheet 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Government Affairs Team with questions: Sherie Lou Santos (ssantos@amchp.org), Gabrielle Galusha (ggalusha@amchp.org), and Karina Collins (kcollins@amchp.org).