Trump's Skinny Budget: A Bold Prescription for a Healthier HHS
President Donald Trump's skinny budget for fiscal year 2026, is a game-changer for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). By slashing $40 billion from HHS's discretionary budget, cutting 20,000 jobs, and launching the Administration for a Healthy America, this plan delivers a leaner, more focused agency under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' (MAHA) vision. As the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, I see this budget as a courageous step to eliminate waste, prioritize chronic disease prevention, and rebuild trust in public health. In essence, it's a prescription for a healthier America.
Slashing Waste, Saving Billions
HHS's discretionary budget, ballooning to $121 billion in 2025, has long been riddled with inefficiencies. Trump's proposal cuts it to $80.4 billion—a 33 percent reduction—saving taxpayers $40 billion annually. By targeting duplicative programs, like the
National Institutes of Health
's redundant 27 institutes, the budget redirects funds to high-impact areas like chronic disease prevention, affecting 50 percent of Americans. The consolidation of NIH into eight institutes, streamlines innovation without sacrificing quality. This fiscal discipline, saving $1.8 billion yearly from workforce cuts alone, ensures every dollar serves patients, not bureaucrats.
A Leaner, Smarter Workforce
The budget's reduction of 20,000 HHS jobs is a masterstroke of efficiency. By trimming administrative roles in human resources, information technology, and high-cost regions, HHS sheds 24 percent of its 82,000-strong workforce, focusing on frontline health priorities. The FDA's cut of 3,500 non-essential jobs, sparing drug reviewers, and the CDC's 2,400 reductions target overhead, not expertise. This leaner HHS is poised to deliver results, not red tape.
The AHA: A Vision for Prevention
The creation of the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) is the budget's crown jewel. By merging the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Health Resources and Services Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, AHA centralizes chronic care, mental health, and environmental health services. This streamlined entity absorbs rural programs, ensuring underserved communities get targeted support. Unlike the programs in the previous administration that were mired in ideology, AHA aligns with MAHA's focus on clean water, safe food, and ending the chronic disease epidemic. Reducing HHS's 10 regional offices to five further sharpens efficiency—and helps free new resources for a new Assistant Secretary for Enforcement to combat fraud.
Rejecting Ideological Overreach
The budget boldly eliminates programs tainted by 'woke ideology,' such as NIH's gender identity research and the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
' health equity initiatives, which have often distracted from core health needs. By refocusing on evidence-based priorities, the budget tackles real threats. This clarity restores public trust, eroded by years of overreach, and empowers states to handle local needs, embodying federalism.
Perfect Timing, Lasting Impact
Launched in Trump's first 100 days, the budget leverages a 53-seat Senate majority to push reforms before 2026 mid-terms shift dynamics. With Congress's budget authority looming, the proposal's early timing—before June 2025 hearings—sets the stage for Republican-led appropriations to cement these changes. States like Utah banning SNAP soda purchases show the path forward, and HHS's alignment amplifies this momentum. Unlike past budgets ignored by Congress, this plan's clarity and public support make it a positive blueprint.
Addressing Concerns, Seizing Opportunity
Critics will likely fearmonger over how reductions in bureaucracy will lead to poor health outcomes. But Secretary Kennedy's focus on chronic disease and environmental health counters these fears, and the budget spares mandatory programs like Medicare. For healthcare providers and patients, a streamlined HHS means faster approvals, better care, and lower costs. Taxpayers gain a government that works for them, not against them.
Trump's skinny budget is a visionary reset for HHS, slashing waste, empowering prevention, and restoring trust.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
European Leaders to Join Zelenskiy for Meeting With Trump
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The Hill
23 minutes ago
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Russiagate scandal demands prosecutions, overhaul of the FBI and CIA
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24 minutes ago
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Ukraine Responds to Putin's Reported Demands to Trump
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. It would be "totally unacceptable" for Kyiv to give up its eastern regions for a peace deal, a senior Ukrainian politician has said, as Ukrainian officials prepare to meet President Donald Trump and European leaders in Washington on Monday. Reuters reported on Sunday that Russia had said it would offer slivers of land it currently controls in Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv ceding chunks of land in the east that Russia does not currently control, citing sources briefed on the Kremlin's thinking. Under the proposal, Ukraine would fully withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk, with the current front lines in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to the south frozen in place, according to the report. For Ukraine, it is politically and militarily off the table to consent to losing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine's parliamentary foreign affairs committee and a member of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's party, previously told Newsweek. President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on August 15, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska. President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as he arrives at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on August 15, 2025, in Anchorage, Kremlin declared in fall 2022 that Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions were now part of Russia after referendums widely condemned as a sham. Russia had seized Crimea, to the south of the mainland, from Ukraine in 2014. Moscow does not control all of the four mainland Ukrainian regions, but has long focused on asserting its grip on Donetsk and Luhansk. They are collectively known as the Donbas, and form much of Ukraine's industrial heartland. The current proposal is a "provocation" from the Kremlin chief, and one to which Ukraine can never agree, Merezhko said. Kyiv has repeatedly said it is against the country's constitution to give land away to Moscow. The Russian and Ukrainian positions on what the Kremlin would control in any ceasefire agreement or peace deal have always been far apart, and there is little hint that this has changed on either side. But what may have shifted is President Donald Trump's patience to entertain steadfast Russian demands. The Republican had in recent months expressed increasing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but said off the back of the two leaders' first meeting of Trump's second term that the summit was "useful." No deal was announced, and Trump pivoted his position on a ceasefire, saying he would move straight to a permanent peace deal. Zelensky said on Saturday Russia's refusal to sign a ceasefire "complicates the situation." Russia is not in a position to seize Donetsk through military means, and, for Ukraine, the region has huge strategic importance, Merezhko said. Close to three-and-years of full-scale war has seen Russia gain control of large areas of Luhansk and Donetsk, but much of the latter still remains in Ukrainian control. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank that tracks the daily changes to the front lines in the conflict, said earlier this month Ukraine still controls roughly 6,500 square kilometers of territory in Donetsk—equivalent to a quarter of the region. Russia's slow but steady gains, concentrated in Donetsk, have come at an eyewatering human cost, according to Ukrainian and Western assessments. Crucially, west of the front lines, in Ukrainian-held Donetsk, are several cities known as "fortress settlements" that are vital to Ukraine's defenses. The region is a "bulwark" for Ukraine to shield its other regions, Merezhko said. After the Anchorage summit, Trump told European leaders that he backed a plan in which Ukraine would cede territory it still controlled to Russia, The New York Times reported, citing two senior European officials. Several European leaders will travel to participate in Zelensky's meeting at the White House on Monday, including British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer.
