Alliance Alert: The Alliance for Rights and Recovery was proud to join a broad coalition of national advocates in calling on Congress to demand that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services immediately reverse the abrupt and harmful cuts to SAMHSA grant programs. We are deeply grateful to Congressman Paul Tonko for his leadership, and to the many Members of Congress who signed on to the letter he led urging HHS to restore this critical funding for mental health, substance use, and recovery services.
We are encouraged to hear that HHS and SAMHSA have moved quickly to reinstate the nearly $2 billion in grants that were terminated, and that notices of funding restoration are being issued today and throughout the rest of the week. These grants support lifesaving services across the country, including overdose prevention, treatment, peer support, and community-based mental health care, and their restoration is a critical step in protecting our nation’s behavioral health safety net.
We thank everyone who raised their voices, contacted elected officials, and helped push this advocacy effort forward. The Alliance will continue to monitor developments closely, share updates with our community, and offer opportunities for continued advocacy as we work together to confront ongoing and emerging threats to mental health and substance use services across the United States.
SAMHSA Grants Reinstated
By Sophia Gardner and Kelly Hooper | Politico | January 15, 2026
QUICK REVERSAL — The Department of Health and Human Services has reinstated nearly 3,000 substance use disorder and mental health services grants worth nearly $2 billion a day after terminating them, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter, our Carmen Paun reports.
The cuts had hit discretionary grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an HHS agency, and included youth overdose prevention and medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorder, among other things.
Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement late Wednesday that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had reinstated the grants.
“Congress holds the power of the purse, and the Secretary must follow the law,” she said, adding that the cuts would have eliminated programs that save lives.
An administration official and a congressional aide, both granted anonymity to discuss internal matters, confirmed the reinstatement of the grants.
A bipartisan group of 100 House members wrote to Kennedy Wednesday asking for more information about the terminations.
View the letter below:
