On September 2, the House Appropriations Labor-Health and Human Services (Labor-HHS) subcommittee advanced its FY26 federal health funding bill to the full committee for consideration. Members voted 11-7 along party lines to cut Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) funding overall by about 6%. Funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would remain flat at $47.8 billion, including a $48 million increase for the National Cancer Institute to $7.27 billion, but the bill proposes a 19% cut to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a 37% cut for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).

While the bill contains cuts to key federal health agencies, House appropriators have thus far rejected the more drastic 40% cuts to the CDC and NIH proposed by the White House earlier this year. The Labor-HHS bill must now receive a vote by the entire House Appropriations committee membership before advancing to the House floor for a final vote. Both chambers of Congress must also reach a compromise on their respective versions of the Labor-HHS bill in order to send it to President Trump's desk.