By Ralph Chapoco | Alabama Reflector

Alabama lost almost $250 million after funding from 31 federal grants were discontinued after President Donald Trump issued an executive order to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the country, according to information obtained from a database released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

However, an unknown amount has been reinstated thereby reducing that total.

The losses stem from the more than $630 million in grants that were awarded from government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention that had yet to be allocated to both agencies and universities throughout the state, according to an analysis from the Alabama Reflector.

The Alabama Reflector reviewed a database obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that identified the grants that were eliminated. Two state agencies and three universities lost funding because of the administration’s executive order.

“We continue to monitor, assess and address the developments regarding federal activity, and our government affairs professionals are actively engaged,” a spokesperson for the University of Alabama Birmingham said in a statement. “We do not have additional information to share at this time.”

The Alabama Department of Mental Health provided a list of programs that will continue to receive funding because of appropriations from Congress, and added, “At this time, we do not foresee federal impacts for mental health funding due to reduction in grant funding in fiscal year 2026.”

The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) said they have had about $175 million eliminated because of the executive order.

“Based upon ADPH review of its grants, the loss of $175 million is the amount that ADPH can document, at this time,” the Alabama Department of Public Health said in a statement. That figure is lower than the almost $215 million that the agency has lost from the more than $760 million the agency had been awarded based on the analysis from the Alabama Reflector.

“The grants funded portions of programs for detection, prevention, and response to outbreaks of infectious disease in Alabama. While this loss of funding resulted in termination of some programs, ADPH was able to shift employees into other programs or not replace employees who were retiring or chose to move to other employment outside the agency,” the statement from ADPH said. “As a result of this loss of funding, ADPH continues to review its existing programs and determine how current and future funds can be used to support the work required of ADPH. This is all the information ADPH can provide, at this time.”

The Alabama Reflector reached out to Auburn University and the University of Alabama for additional information on the programs whose funding was eliminated.

Potential Consequences

Government experts warned of the potential consequences of the administration’s executive order and the chilling effect that it could have for research.

One practical consequence of the executive order is that it halts research that has been ongoing for years and possible findings that could result from the studies that could help address chronic and communicable diseases, according to Jill Rosenthal, director of public health policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal-leaning organization. 

The second possible fallout is that it slows scientific progress.

“It also impacts America’s standing in scientific innovation,” Rosenthal said. “Those cuts and freezes to funding affect scientists and future scientists who want to go into this work. When their grants are cut or not available, there’s reports of folks looking to go to other countries and doing the research there.”

The Alabama Department of Mental Health lost roughly $22.5 million after grants were eliminated.

The database did not provide full details of the program whose funding was short-changed, but based on the descriptions in the spreadsheet. For example, ADPH lost $190 million for programs meant to prevent and contain emerging infectious diseases, while another $15 million was lost for projects to immunize and vaccinate children.

The description in the database stated that the program involved “immunizations and vaccines for children.” A second program was titled, “National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities Among Populations at High-Risk and Underserved, Including Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations and Rural Communities.”

The most significant funding reduction, almost $157 million was for a program called, “2019 Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases (ELC).”

The Alabama Department of Mental Health had to forgo about $15 million from a block grant to help address mental health and another $6 million for combatting substance abuse. The titles for programs whose grant funding was eliminated was called “Mental Health Block Grant – COVID Relief.”

The University of Alabama at Birmingham lost almost $7.5 million from $11 million in federal funding the university has been awarded to aid medical and scientific research and fund research opportunities for undergraduates as well as mentorships.

Some of the funding was for research into specific scientific subjects. One, for example, was titled, “Circadian changes in network excitability and Alzheimer disease pathogenesis.”

Both Auburn University and the University of Alabama had one grant each that was affected totaling about $600,000 in lost funding.

The grant for the University of Alabama that lost more than $185,000 was aimed at helping to recruit underrepresented students toward a nursing career. And the G-RISE program at Auburn University whose funding was cut by almost $440,000 was meant to encourage students from underrepresented groups to enter scientific fields.

Impact On The Economy

Aside from slowing scientific advancement, the funding reductions that stem from the elimination of the grants could hurt the economy of states whose researchers receive the grant money.

The Center for American Progress published an article in February that stated the funding reductions would threaten jobs.

“The NIH is a critical driver of biomedical advancements and generates significant economic activity in many states,” the report states. The article said that NIH funding contributed about $5.2 billion to the economy in Pennsylvania and $2.8 billion to Florida’s economy for fiscal year 2023.

Rosenthal went on to say that the executive order violates the process for allocating grant dollars that had been done in the past. Before, the decisions were based on an exact process that relied on the scientific method and on the judgement of scientists who understood the research.

“This process here is fundamentally biased in that it is based only on, in some cases, key word searches. There is talk of people who have lost grants based on a particular word in the grant without any fundamental understanding of what that grant would actually do.”