ADA urges Congress to maintain CDC tobacco prevention funding

The ADA signed on to an Oct. 31 coalition letter urging congressional appropriators to adopt the Senate’s proposed $246.5 million funding level for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health in the 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill.

The letter—coordinated by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and signed by dozens of national and state health organizations—calls on Congress to maintain current Office on Smoking and Health funding levels and include language to ensure funds are used as Congress intends. The coalition noted that the Senate bill protects the Office on Smoking and Health’s core tobacco prevention and cessation work, while the House version would significantly cut CDC funding and eliminate the agency’s funding entirely.

“We further urge you to ensure that specific funding levels for [the Office on Smoking and Health] and CDC’s other chronic disease prevention and health promotion programs are incorporated into the bill text to ensure that the Administration spends those funds as Congress intends,” the coalition letter reads.

The coalition emphasized that tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, responsible for nearly 500,000 deaths annually and costing the nation more than $600 billion each year. The Office on Smoking and Health supports state tobacco control programs, national cessation resources such as quitlines, and the CDC’s “Tips from Former Smokers” campaign.

Eliminating this funding “would fail to restore the critical function” of the Office on Smoking and Health, according to the letter, resulting in the loss of approximately $70 million in state tobacco control program funding and reductions in quitline services across multiple states. The coalition said this funding is essential to sustain effective public education campaigns and rebuild program capacity diminished in recent years.

“We urge you to ensure that CDC’s [Office  on Smoking and Health] is funded at the Senate’s $246.5 million funding level and that the Administration spends the full amount for this purpose,” the coalition concluded. “Adequately funding [the Office on Smoking and Health] is necessary, not only to sustain state programs, the Tips campaign and the quitlines, but also to rebuild the staff capacity that has been diminished and is essential to carrying out these responsibilities.”