NBC News (1/15, Lovelace, Lebowitz ) reports the Department of Health and Human Services “is reinstating $2 billion in funds to address substance abuse and mental health after the department said it would cancel funds the day before.” Wednesday’s reinstatement came “after groups were informed Tuesday of the funding cuts, which were associated with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.” The initial cancellation “prompted pushback from physicians and behavioral health advocates.”
NPR (1/15, Mann ) adds that an Administration official “confirmed to NPR that the cuts, first announced by” SAMHSA, “were being reversed. They asked not to be identified because they didn’t have permission to speak publicly about the decision. They said all of the roughly 2,000 organizations affected by the whiplash series of events were being notified that full funding would be restored.”
The AP (1/15, Swenson) reports the reversal “builds on what program directors say has become a pattern of uncertainty from this administration, which has repeatedly canceled millions of dollars in federal funding without notice and at times reversed course in decisions about what will and won’t be covered.”
Related Links:
— “HHS quickly reverses $2 billion in mental health and substance abuse cuts after pushback,”Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Megan Lebowitz , NBC News, January 15, 2026