Senate Democrats Urge President to Spare HHS Budget Cuts

In a letter dated May 16, a group of eleven Democratic Senators, led by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), urged President Donald Trump away from a $15 billion budget cut to the Department of Health and Human Services that was laid out in the budget blueprint the White House released earlier this year. The Senators said that the significant reduction in funding would jeopardize critical aspects of the 21st Century Cures Act, which was signed into law in December. The letter also calls out the administration’s directive to agencies to reduce workforce as being detrimental to the ability of HHS to fully implement the 21st Century Cures Act. 

 

In addition to Senator Murray, Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Robert Casey (D-PA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Al Franken (D-MN), Margaret Hassan (D-NH), Christopher Murphy (D-CT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) signed the letter.