Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - 3/20/2025… Today, Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17) sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. expressing serious concern over reports that the Administration is considering eliminating or restructuring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of HIV Prevention. 

Since 1981, HIV has claimed over 700,000 American lives and 1.2 million people still live with the disease—disproportionately impacting the LGBTQ+ community, which accounted for 71% of new infections in 2022. The CDC’s domestic efforts, focused on prevention, research, and testing, have been vital in slowing the spread. Partnering with nonprofits and local governments, they reach those most at risk. Any disruption to these programs would jeopardize decades of progress.

“Any reorganization of these programs, either to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) or elsewhere in the HHS umbrella, would place prevention efforts into an entirely new structure unfamiliar with prevention efforts. This would compromise the delivery of preventive measures, like the HIV prevention pill, and disrupt education for thousands of at-risk Americans,” wrote Congressman Lawler (NY-17).

“It is my hope that these reports are false and that the Administration’s commitment to fighting the HIV epidemic remains steadfast. Maintaining, or rather expanding, HIV programming in the U.S. is necessary to end the epidemic by 2030,” concluded the lawmaker.

Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and represents New York's 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties.

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The full letter can be found HERE.