24 hours of chaos as mental health grants are slashed then restored

24 hours of chaos as mental health grants are slashed then restored The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services building is seen on March 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services offered no explanation of its decision to terminate and later restore grant money for mental health and addiction programs. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption After a tense day of confusion and backroom negotiations, the Trump administration moved Wednesday night to restore roughly $2 billion in federal grant money for mental health and addiction programs nationwide. The money had been cut off late Tuesday without warning , sending shockwaves through a segment of the country's patchwork system of public health that relies on grant funding. "After a day of panic across the country, non-profits and people with mental health conditions are deeply alarmed, but also hopeful that this money is being restored," said Hannah Wesolowski with the National Alliance on Mental Illness. An administration official confirmed to NPR that the cuts, first announced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (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. NPR was unable to confirm who triggered the initial decision to terminate the grants by sending letters that abruptly signaled programs no longer "aligned" with the Trump administration's public health agenda. After sending the letters, officials at the Department of Health and Human Services and SAMHSA went silent, offering no clarification to health care providers or the public about what would happen next or where patients should go for care. The sudden defunding and lack of communication triggered a backlash from local officials and care providers, who said the American public would see a rapid dismantling of essential safety net programs. "We provide treatment, life saving treatment," said Dan Lustig who runs the Haymarket Center, the largest non-profit addiction treatment program in Chicago, which treats people at high risk while using illicit drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamines. "If people don't get access to treatment they just die. That's a fact," Lustig said. "You can spin this any way people want to, but people are going to die." The American Medical Association weighed in, issuing a statement saying it was "deeply concerned" by the cuts and calling for grants to be restored. "At a time when patients already face too many barriers to care, sudden funding disruptions risk leaving them without the support and treatment they urgently need," the statement said. That message reached members of Congress. Republican and Democratic lawmakers scrambled to urge White House and Health and Human Services officials to reverse course. "We heard from offices on both sides of the political aisle who were working on this issue throughout the day," said Wesolowski. The bipartisan pressure, she added, "really speaks...

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