Health care workers sound the alarm on federal funding cuts

The unions representing workers at the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) are sounding the alarm following the abrupt termination of six federally funded CDC grants essential to infectious disease tracking, prevention, and immunization.

“These cuts, orchestrated by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services under the influence of billionaire Elon Musk, represent yet another blow to public health infrastructure and the frontline workers who sustain it,” they said.

In response to Connecticut losing $155 million in feddral aid for public health, state senator Saud Anwar, a doctor, said “This is a public health disaster. This is an assault on the people of the state of Connecticut, on the children, even the newborns.”

He called for increased state funding with “a serious conversation about fiscal guardrail reform,” referring to demands to lower the fiscal guardrails or roadblocks being used to maintain a large state surplus despite urgent human needs.

The federal grants supported programs that saved and improved lives with members who are epidemiologists, lab scientists, nurses, health educators, and administrators working directly to protect the public from infectious disease outbreaks, ensure vaccine access and safety, and prepare our state to respond quickly when threats emerge.

“The sudden termination of this funding jeopardizes this work and will have far reaching consequences for the people of our state.,” said the unions who indicated they are “working with many others to reverse these cuts and prevent others.  In the eyes of some billionaires,  human beings who depend on public services – all of us – and the workers who provide them, are disposable.   We are not.  We cannot allow our vital public health functions to become collateral damage in DC’s budget wars.”

The Connecticut Congressional delegation called the cuts “illegal and morally bankfrupt,” while Attorney General William Tong announced a law suit being filed by Connecticut and other states.

Protests to the cuts in human services are among the demands on April 5 when thousands of Connecticut residents in 20 towns are participating in a “Hands Off” nationally coordinated day of action.