RFK Jr.’s chronic disease agency budget documents released

Elizabeth Cooney is a cardiovascular disease reporter at STAT, covering heart, stroke, and metabolic conditions.

Budget documents released by the Trump administration Friday provide the first clear indication of the priorities of a proposed new agency focused on preventing chronic disease. 

The Administration for a Healthy America would absorb multiple federal agencies and existing programs, but the documents indicate that numerous initiatives axed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through a reduction in force (RIF) in April will be resurrected with reduced funding — or not at all. 

Longstanding funding lines at the CDC for tobacco control, nutrition and obesity, school health, heart disease and stroke, diabetes, and cancer prevention and control are among those that are zeroed out and slated for elimination in the new agency’s first budget justification for Congress.