White House plan would eliminate Head Start, make sweeping health cuts
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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives for a news conference at department headquarters on April 16. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images
A Trump administration budget proposal calls for eliminating programs like Head Start, funding for community mental health clinics and initiatives aimed at preventing teen pregnancy in fiscal 2026.
Why it matters: The 64-page document, called a budget passback, reveals the breadth and deep extent to which the Trump administration is eyeing cuts to the federal health bureaucracy.
- The Office of Management and Budget document is just a proposal but offers a preview of what President Trump's spending priorities are. Congress has the final say in how discretionary funds are allocated.
- The document was first reported by the Washington Post.
Zoom in: The proposal calls for about $20 billion appropriated to a new agency within Health and Human Services called the Administration for a Healthy America. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced last month that he planned to combine several existing agencies into this new entity.
- The document also requests $500 million to be allocated by the HHS secretary for activities that support the administration's so-called "Make America Healthy Again" initiative, per the document.
In all, about $40 billion, or one-third of the HHS discretionary budget, would be cut under the proposal compared with fiscal 2024 levels.
- The document suggests eliminating programs for rural health care providers, HIV treatment efforts, health care workforce initiatives and childhood lead poisoning. It does not say whether or how the work done by these programs would continue.
- Some offices that the document suggests could be eliminated, including the Administration for Preparedness and Response, have existing legal authorities, with officials confirmed by the Senate.
Reality check: No final funding decisions have been made yet, OMB communications director Rachel Cauley told Axios.
Zoom out: There had been earlier reports that Head Start, a storied program created as part of President Johnson's War on Poverty, was on the chopping block.
- That was an aim of Project 2025.
- Ending the program, which provides early childhood education, nutrition and health care help to nearly 800,000 kids and their families, would have "catastrophic" consequences for some of the poorest people in the U.S. — with outsized impacts in rural communities.
- "I had a very inspiring tour [of a Head Start program]," Kennedy said last month. "I saw a devoted staff and a lot of happy children. They are getting the kind of education and socialization they need, and they are also getting a couple of meals a day."
