An extraordinary lobbying effort for an agency the size of NIOSH and court action staved off Elon Musk’s DOGE effort to virtually eliminate NIOSH last year, with Congress ultimately restoring NIOSH’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget to $366.8 million. Another battle looms with the Trump administration proposing a 74.9% cut in NIOSH’s budget — from $366.8 million to $92.2 million for FY 2027, as reported in the Confined Space newsletter authored by former senior OSHA official Jordan Barab.

NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is not moving to the Administration for a Healthy America as was announced last year. The plan is to fold NIOSH into a new entity within CDC, The National Center for Chemicals and Toxins, according to the Department of Health and Human Services’ FY27 budget. 

The administration’s proposed budget would wipe out the National Occupational Research Agenda, reducing it from $120 million in FY26 to 0 in FY27.

Education and Research Centers would also disappear, with zero funding proposed compared to a $32 million budget in FY26.

Other Occupational Safety and Health Research is slated for a proposed 100% budget cut, from $155 million to 0 in FY27.

Personal Protective Technology, including NIOSH approval of respirator protection, would be cut by a proposed 30.4%, from $23 million to $16 million.

The only programs to survive in this proposal are those that faced elimination last and received the most political pushback. Mining Research, the National Mesothelioma Registry and the Firefighter Cancer Registry will receive full funding. 

In total, NIOSH’s funding would plummet from $366.8 million to $92.2 million. This proposal is just the first shot fired in what promises to be another year for the occupational safety and health community to rally political support and seek legal actions to protect NIOSH’s core functions.