The House has released Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) appropriations guidance with accelerated deadlines for Member submissions, making early engagement critical. ASPPH’s FY27 priorities call for $51.303 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $11.581 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and $10.5 billion for the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). These investments are essential to sustain research, prevention, and workforce programs that underpin academic public health. 

ASPPH’s asks & why this matters for academic public health:

• Robust funding for NIH supports biomedical and population health research, CDC resources drive disease prevention and emergency preparedness, and HRSA investments strengthen the public health workforce pipeline. 
• ASPPH’s FY27 funding priorities chart and letter to the Appropriations Committees are now available and can be used as templates to help inform and support your funding requests to members of Congress.
• Please use ASPPH's advocacy tool to reach out to your members of Congress.

Key deadlines to know:

• March 13: Agriculture; Commerce, Justice, Science; Financial Services and General Government; Legislative Branch; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; and National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs.
• March 20: Defense; Energy and Water; Homeland Security; Interior; Labor-HHS; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.
• Labor-HHS programmatic and language requests and Community Project Funding submissions are due March 20 at 6:00 PM ET, and must be submitted through the House Appropriations Committee’s online portal.

ASPPH has joined the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research in endorsing a recommendation of at least $51.303 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in fiscal year (FY) 2027. The coalition’s request represents a $4.087 billion increase over the FY 2026 enacted level and reflects broad bipartisan recognition of NIH’s role in improving health and driving innovation. ASPPH’s endorsement underscores our continued commitment to sustained, reliable growth in federal research funding.

Background and coalition recommendation:

• The Ad Hoc Group, representing more than 500 patient, scientific, academic, and industry organizations, calls on Congress to provide at least $51.303 billion for NIH in FY 2027 to ensure steady growth in biomedical, behavioral, social, and population-based research.
• The request highlights NIH’s impact on patient care, economic growth, national security, and US global competitiveness.
• The coalition emphasizes that sustained investment supports more than 300,000 researchers nationwide and strengthens research capacity across states and communities. Reliable funding and a fully staffed agency are essential to maintaining public trust, advancing discovery, and preventing disruption to the research pipeline.

ASPPH’s continued advocacy:

• ASPPH has consistently spoken out against cuts to research, academic institutions, and public health infrastructure. As we finalize our FY27 funding priorities, we remain committed to advocating for strong NIH funding that supports schools and programs of public health and the communities they serve.
• Robust federal investment in research is foundational to advancing public health, training the next generation of public health scientists, strengthening national preparedness, and ensuring the US remains a global leader in innovation and health advances. ASPPH will continue to work with bipartisan partners in Congress to advance these priorities.

In his first State of the Union address of his second term, President Donald Trump emphasized prescription drug pricing reforms and efforts to combat fraud in federal health programs. He urged Congress to codify his most favored nation drug pricing policy and promoted new consumer tools aimed at lowering out-of-pocket costs. The president largely avoided divisive topics such as vaccines, Medicaid cuts, and reductions to federal science funding.

What the president emphasized:

• Trump called on Congress to formalize his most favored nation drug pricing policy, which ties certain US drug prices to those paid in other countries, and promoted the new TrumpRx platform that displays cash prices for select medications.
• He highlighted stepped-up fraud investigations within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including reviews of Medicaid and other public benefit programs in several states.

Why this matters for academic public health:

• Drug pricing reforms and shifts in premium subsidies toward health savings-style accounts could reshape affordability and access, with downstream effects on population health and on the patients served by academic health centers and community partners.
• The omission of vaccine policy changes, Medicaid reductions under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), and cuts at agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) leaves uncertainty about the long term stability of the public health and research infrastructure that schools and programs of public health depend on.

Last Wednesday, Dr. Casey Means, President Trump’s nominee for US Surgeon General, faced bipartisan scrutiny during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Lawmakers from both parties pressed her on childhood vaccines, autism, and recent changes to the federal immunization schedule. Dr. Means repeatedly stated that “vaccines save lives,” but declined to endorse several routine recommendations.

What happened at the hearing:

• Senators, including Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), asked whether Dr. Means would encourage routine childhood vaccination, including measles, influenza, and the universal hepatitis B birth dose. She emphasized shared clinical decision-making and parental discussions with physicians rather than explicitly supporting universal recommendations.
• When asked about claims linking vaccines to autism, Dr. Means said the medical community does not fully understand the causes of autism and that research should continue, stopping short of rejecting a connection.

Why this matters:

• The Surgeon General serves as a leading national voice on prevention and evidence-based public health guidance. Ambiguity around routine immunization recommendations may affect public confidence and complicate risk communication by schools and programs of public health.
• Ongoing federal changes to vaccine policy, including updates to the CDC childhood immunization schedule, are creating uncertainty for public health educators, researchers, and practitioners working to sustain high vaccination rates and protect population health.

The Trump administration announced it will shift several core US Department of Education (ED) functions to other federal agencies, further advancing efforts to scale back the Department’s role. Responsibilities related to school safety, student mental health, and foreign funding oversight for colleges and universities will move to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of State. The changes come despite bipartisan congressional concern about transferring statutory responsibilities.

What is changing:

• HHS will oversee school safety and student mental health grants, including programs created in response to school shootings, as well as the School Emergency Response to Violence program known as Project SERV and the Full-Service Community Schools initiative.
• The State Department will support monitoring and enforcement of foreign gifts and contracts reported by higher education institutions, helping manage a federal reporting portal that tracks billions in overseas funding.

Why this matters for academic public health:

• Moving student mental health and school violence prevention programs to HHS increases its role in education and could affect funding, coordination, and workforce training pathways.
• Expanded federal scrutiny of foreign funding may affect global research partnerships that schools and programs of public health rely on to address infectious diseases, emergency preparedness, and other cross border health threats.

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