Trump Budget Reduces CDC Wastewater Surveillance Funding From $125M to $25M Annually

President Donald Trump's budget plan reduces annual funding for the CDC's National Wastewater Surveillance System from around $125 million to about $25 million. The CDC will have no funding to sustain the national program beyond Sept. 30, 2026.

The American Society for Microbiology sent a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee in April stating that the CDC has exhausted all available supplemental funding for wastewater surveillance. The system began under the 2020 CARES Act and was later expanded with supplemental funding after the COVID-19 pandemic. S.

2, also known as "cicada," has been detected in 25 states. The variant was first identified through the NWSS in California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming.

WastewaterSCAN separately found the variant in California, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio.

The variant produces symptoms including cough, fever, sore throat, congestion, shortness of breath, and loss of smell or taste. Dr. " He added that the reduced funding would limit tracking to seasonal pathogens such as influenza, RSV and COVID-19, while eliminating the ability to respond to outbreaks such as hantavirus, Ebola, measles or polio and ending national coverage.

The People's CDC coalition is demanding that Congress permanently extend and provide full funding for the NWSS. As of Tuesday morning, more than 2,880 letters had been sent by constituents to members of Congress through the Action Network website. The coalition set a goal of 3,000 letters.