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    Trump administration delays crucial overdose funding

    By Robyn Oster
    July 2025

    The Trump administration has delayed $140 million in CDC Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) grants to fund overdose response efforts.

    • The withheld money accounts for half of the funds allocated by Congress for OD2A, a program that supports fentanyl response efforts in 49 states, DC, and dozens of city, county, and territorial public health departments.

    The details:

    • CDC staffers said it appears the funding interruption is being caused by bureaucratic confusion involving DOGE and the White House budget office, which are both scrutinizing OD2A grants before money is issued.
    • After CDC staffers raised concerns that the funding could be cancelled, the White House said the program will be fully paid for, but the money will now be given out “in increments” rather than a single annual payment. No explanation was given for the shift to incremental payments rather than annual disbursements.

    But: Administration officials would not offer a timeline for when the remaining $140 million in OD2A funds might be sent to CDC for distribution.

    • Sources inside CDC say it is unclear how public health and addiction programs around the country will operate with uncertainty about half of their funding because a verbal commitment is not a contractual commitment.
    • CDC staffers also said they lack internal accounting systems needed to distribute money in the incremental way described by White House officials, especially with uncertainty around how grants will be reviewed or when the funds might be approved.

    Why it’s important: Many addiction programs will reach the end of their current OD2A funding cycles by Sept. 1.

    • Many public health departments say they have already paused new spending.
    • The delays/cuts could limit services that were helping bring down fatal overdose rates.
    • The disruption in funding could also impact state and local surveillance systems created to detect new substances in the illicit drug supply.

    Read more: Exclusive: Trump team withholds $140 million budgeted for fentanyl fight; White House says U.S. fentanyl overdose programs will be funded ‘in increments’