Bill > SR0016

Introduced Session

resolution relating to opposing recent federal actions that threaten public health and urging their swift reversal. Whereas, on January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), a move that jeopardizes the health and well-being of Vermonters, other Americans, and individuals all around the world because of the WHO’s focus on improving public health and on detecting, preventing, and responding to health emergencies, including disease outbreaks that do not respect state lines or international borders, and Whereas, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is eliminating the jobs of approximately 20,000 employees, including at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where teams were cut whose work focused on preventing injuries and violence from causes including motor vehicle crashes, child maltreatment, and traumatic brain injury; on tracking trends in mental health and substance use disorders; on rape prevention and education; on maternal mortality and maternal and child health; and on many other areas affecting public health in Vermont, the United States, and beyond, and Whereas, the Trump Administration has eliminated the entire management and regulations divisions at the Center for Tobacco Products in the Food and Drug Administration and cut most of the staff at the Office on Smoking and Health at the CDC, which severely hampers tobacco regulation and enforcement efforts and will have a negative impact on tobacco prevention in Vermont’s youth and on Vermonters’ public health, and Whereas, the National Institutes of Health, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that describes itself as “the nation’s medical research agency — making important discoveries that improve health and save lives,” is now refusing to award grant funds to universities that operate any programs that advance or promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, which jeopardizes the future of medical research and disregards the existence of health inequities, and Whereas, the U.S. Department of Education cut approximately $1 billion in federal grants that support critical mental health services in schools, which will dramatically reduce access to these services and threatens the health and well-being of youth around the country, and Whereas, it appears that the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lacks understanding of science and scientific research, including of peer-reviewed research regarding vaccines and autism, now therefore be it

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Martine Gulick (D)*,  Ginny Lyons (D), 

Recommitted to Committee on Health and Welfare on motion of Senator Gulick (on 05/30/2025)

Official Document