Mental Health and Addiction Policy

Over a roughly 24‑hour span, HHS’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration abruptly terminated about 2,000 grants—nearly $2 billion, roughly one‑quarter of SAMHSA’s budget—via letters signed by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Christopher Carroll invoking a regulation that awards no longer “effectuate” program goals; many grantees reported little notice (some even received a later 2 a.m. termination email acknowledged as an error), triggering layoffs, canceled trainings and local losses such as Las Vegas’s PACT Coalition losing $560,000 and Boston’s Baker Center losing $1 million. After intense bipartisan and provider backlash and high‑level meetings inside the administration, HHS reversed the cuts and is notifying recipients that full funding will be restored, but officials have not explained who ordered the initial cancellations or the reversal, leaving advocates and lawmakers alarmed by the chaos.