State Senator Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) released the following statement after the Trump administration notified grantees that it is terminating roughly $2 billion in federal grant funding that was appropriated by Congress to support mental health and substance use treatment services:
“At a moment when we are seeing a meteoric rise in the mental health needs of our youth, the Trump administration is yet again advancing cruel and inhumane policies that target children in need of mental health services and people struggling with opioid addiction, homelessness and more.
“The termination of Congressionally-appropriated funding is not only unjustified – it directly puts lives at stake. Organizations in my district are on the front line of suicide prevention, addiction treatment and recovery, homelessness prevention and youth services. They will face unimaginably heartbreaking decisions in the coming days and weeks when the funding they counted on is heartlessly ripped away, leaving the people they serve with nowhere to turn for help.
“Enough is enough. Our country’s behavioral health systems were already struggling, and recklessly slashing funding for clinical treatment will never be a solution that helps the people I represent.”
