Exclusive: Senators urge HHS to preserve LGBTQ+ crisis services
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) speaks to concerned doctors, nurses, and health care advocates during a press conference ahead of RFK Jr.'s confirmation hearings in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 29. Photo: Jason Andrew/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) joined a group of Democratic lawmakers to urge Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. not to make the "reckless" move of eliminating LGBTQ+ youth crisis services.
The big picture: An internal Trump administration budget proposal, first reported on by The Washington Post last month, sought to cut funding for the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline's LGBTQ+ youth specialized services, which have seen more than 1.2 million contacts since 2022.
- LGBTQ+ young people face both heightened mental health challenges and barriers to care and are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide as their peers, per the Trevor Project.
Driving the news: "Given the Administration has claimed addressing youth mental health as a priority, elimination of specialized services specifically designed for at-risk youth is irresponsible," read the letter, which was signed by Baldwin,
- Baldwin, who was the first openly gay person elected to the Senate, introduced bipartisan-sponsored legislation in 2019 to shorten the line's previous 10-digit number to a three-digit one to remove hurdles to care.
- Trump signed the bipartisan bill in October 2020, and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline launched under the Biden administration in 2022.
- The letter adds that, "despite the requirement for an operating plan for fiscal year 2025, HHS has provided no information about how or whether it plans to use funds for specialized services or the 988 Suicide Lifeline in general."
Context: The 988 lifeline has counselors trained specifically to support LGBTQ+ young people and other high-risk groups.
The proposed cut in the document, known as a budget passback, is not final.
- But the document did reveal the sweeping cuts the Trump administration is eyeing to several programs within the federal health bureaucracy, such as ones focusing on rural health care providers and HIV treatment efforts, Axios' Maya Goldman and Emily Peck reported.
- A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement to Axios that the president's budget "funds the 988 at $520 million – the same number as under Biden."
- But the spokesperson added, "It does not, however, grant taxpayer money to a chat service where children are encouraged to embrace radical gender ideology by 'counselors' without consent or knowledge of their parents."
What they're saying: "Ending the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline's LGBTQ+ youth specialized services will not just strip away access from millions of LGBTQ+ kids and teens – it will put their lives at risk," said Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, in a statement last month.
- The LGBTQ+ youth advocacy organization handles nearly half of the specialized services' contact volume, serving more than 231,000 crisis contacts through the lifeline last year alone.
- Black added: "To end suicide in this country, we need more resources – not fewer."
Go deeper: 19 states sue RFK Jr. over HHS restructuring
