CDC’s new director is pressed to do something about its zombie programs

NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still has an program. Congress appropriated $41 million to it this year. There鈥檚 just no one staffing it.

Then there鈥檚 the agency’s Office on and Health. Congress allocated $246 million for that. Its staffers were cut, too.

Same for the epilepsy program. Its sickle cell disease data collection operation. Its rape prevention unit.

Think of them as the CDC鈥檚 zombie programs 鈥� they appear to be alive, at least according to legislation and congressional appropriations. But functionally they are dead or nearly dead, because the CDC experts who did the work were laid off by President Donald Trump’s administration or remain on leave 鈥� paid but not allowed to do their jobs.

The Atlanta-based CDC is charged with protecting Americans from preventable health threats. When became the agency鈥檚 latest director last week, she inherited these zombie programs and congressional pressure to bring some of them back to life.

In Schwartz’s confirmation hearing, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine pressed her to restart the smoking office’s dormant activities.

鈥淭his is an office that is in statute, and it鈥檚 an office that receives congressional appropriations,鈥� said Kaine, a Virginia Democrat. 鈥淲ill you follow the law if we appropriate money for this mission and the CDC?鈥�

鈥淚 will always follow the law,鈥� Schwartz replied.

Trump officials turned some CDC programs into the living dead

The decision to freeze the programs came from Schwartz鈥檚 political bosses.

In April 2025, Trump’s Republican administration to thousands of employees at the CDC and other federal health agencies. It was part of a sweeping effort to remake the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and consolidate some of its programs under a new subagency called the Administration for a Healthy America. That reorganization hasn’t happened, amid congressional pushback.

But the layoffs did. Led by then-adviser and , the cuts affected researchers, scientists, doctors, support staffers and senior leaders, leaving the government without many of who long guided U.S. decisions on medical research, drug approvals and other issues.

The cuts were challenged in lawsuits and through pleas to legislators.

Some were reversed. Drastic cuts to the CDC鈥檚 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, for example, . included staffers at labs that test for sexually transmitted diseases and support lead poisoning control.

But many of the cuts endured. As , staffers who initially were laid off have been placed on administrative leave while the fight moves through the legal system, paid to not do their jobs.

Not all public health efforts associated with every impacted program stopped. Most of the CDC鈥檚 budget is passed on to state and local programs, and much of grant processing has continued.

Staffers at the CDC and other federal health agencies “deserve a lot of credit for getting money out the door,鈥� said Eric Gascho, executive director of the Coalition for Health Funding.

But gone are seasoned experts doing research into the health threats, assessing which grant-funded programs work and which don’t and setting a national framework for best ways to save and prolong lives.

鈥淲ithout the experts, the coordination is not there across the country鈥� in tackling public health problems, said Erika Sward, chief advocacy officer for UsAgainstAlzheimer鈥檚. 鈥淵ou’re often flying blind, and without a parachute, when you don’t have the CDC staff in place.鈥�

A union is keeping track of the zombie programs

In January, Congress passed an appropriations bill, which became law, that specified funding for more than 200 projects and activities. The law requires that HHS maintain staff to carry out statutorily required program work, although it does not say how many staffers must be in each program to do it.

Since then, current and former CDC employees have compiled a list of dozens of funded-but-decimated CDC programs. They include:

鈥� The Office on Smoking and Health, which , supported quit lines and operated the 鈥淭ips from Former Smokers鈥� ad campaign that researchers associate with billions of dollars in saved healthcare costs.

鈥� A $41 million for better surveillance, risk prevention and communications campaigns. Affected work includes development of a webpage that was to explain what鈥檚 known about a potential link between menopause and Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, whether early menopause is related to higher risk and whether can lessen that risk.

鈥� An $18 million program to support overdose prevention in .

鈥� An $11 million program focused on tracking epilepsy and community programs that help people manage the condition.

鈥� A data collection program, for which Congress appropriated $6 million.

鈥� The , the most comprehensive collection of data on the health behaviors and outcomes before, during and after childbirth. Researchers have been using its data to investigate the nation鈥檚 problem.

鈥� A $2 million program focused on preventing .

Notably, the cuts affected a number of programs focused on the causes and prevention of chronic diseases. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said tackling chronic disease is his central priority, and he has faulted the CDC for not doing enough.

Democrats say what’s happening at the CDC is illegal

After President Richard Nixon, a Republican, refused to spend appropriated funds, Congress passed the in 1974. The CDC’s zombie programs represent a violation of that law, Democratic lawmakers say.

But there is no appropriations police or law enforcement agency that Congress can use to enforce the law. Republicans control the House and the Senate, so there’s been limited appetite for Congress to challenge the Trump administration.

鈥淧resident Trump is showing time and again that he will put politics ahead of Americans鈥� health 鈥� and sadly, my Republican colleagues continue to look the other way,” said U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, in a statement.

In a spending bill passed this year, Baldwin and other senators included new requirements that federal health agencies maintain staffing levels necessary to fulfill statutory responsibilities, but the bill did not specify staffing levels for each program.

Sen. Jon Ossoff is a Democrat who represents Georgia, where the CDC is based. He suggested legislators are watching whether Schwartz will administer the programs that Congress funded.

“We will learn swiftly whether she intends to follow the law,鈥� he said in a statement.

Plans to hire people have not revived the programs

Kennedy visited the CDC earlier this month. An Associated Press reporter heard a recording of an employee forum at which Kennedy praised CDC employees and told them: 鈥淢y sole purpose is to allow you to do your jobs.鈥� He didn’t address the funded programs that have no staff.

In April, Kennedy said in a congressional hearing that more workers were needed at federal health agencies, and he planned to hire 12,000 people 鈥� mainly to address chronic health conditions.

It’s unclear how many have been hired at the CDC since then. U.S. health officials did not respond to a question about that.

Apparently there’s been very little, suggested an official with the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing CDC employees.

鈥淣ot only have we not had any 鈥� really significant hiring of CDC employees, but we鈥檝e also had ignoring and stalling when it comes to those employees that had been (laid off), who were supposed to have priority for some of those jobs,鈥� said AFGE Local 2883 President Yolanda Jacobs.

Schwartz started at the CDC last week. The AP requested her comment on her plans regarding the programs.

The response came from an HHS spokesperson, who emailed: “Dr. Schwartz is determined to support and empower employees to ensure they have what they need to succeed.鈥�

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute鈥檚 Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.