Trump Stalls Fentanyl Aid –
July 16, 2025 – The Trump administration has delayed and may cancel roughly $140 million in grants to fund fentanyl overdose response efforts, according to four staff members with close knowledge of the process at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The staffers shared detailed information with NPR about the funding disruption and potential cuts on the condition of anonymity, saying they don’t have permission to speak publicly about their concerns and feared retribution from the Trump administration if identified. “These are lives at stake,” said one CDC staffer, who has a role administering the addiction grant program, known as the Overdose Data To Action program, often referred to as OD2A. “The announcement [of delays] alone could trigger layoffs and program shutdowns. It could really start a chain reaction that’s hard to come back from,” the CDC staffer said.
State and local public health departments fighting to lower overdose deaths from fentanyl, methamphetamines and other drugs across the U.S. describe the funds as crucial to their efforts. The last time a major national interruption of addiction care occurred, during the COVID-19 pandemic, drug deaths soared.
“[OD2A funding has] been a critical piece of the decreases we’ve seen in overdose deaths,” said Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, an organization that includes 35 urban public health departments. “Any changes to funding levels would be catastrophic and would really send us backwards,” she said.
The money currently being withheld accounts for roughly half of the funds allocated by Congress for the OD2A program, which supports fentanyl response efforts in 49 states, the District of Columbia, as well as dozens of city, county and territorial public health departments. NPR sent requests for comment about the potential OD2A cuts to the CDC, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the White House Office of National Drug Policy. Trump administration officials haven’t responded.
The CDC staffers said it appears the funding interruption is being caused by bureaucratic confusion involving the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cost-cutting effort and the Office of Management and Budget, which are both scrutinizing OD2A grants before money is issued.
