Federal science and research agencies have faced highly publicized attacks over the past year, with the Trump administration aiming to slash budgets and restrict research. Although the scientific community has been largely successful in encouraging Congress to provide robust funding and some specific protections, many agencies continue to face enormous challenges. In particular, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has been hit especially hard. Supporters continue to work diligently to save it.
What is AHRQ?
Established in 1999, AHRQ is a small agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that conducts and funds research to improve healthcare quality, safety, affordability, and accessibility. Broadly speaking, it aims to bridge the gap between research and practice that can impact healthcare in the United States. AHRQ research often addresses if treatments reach patients and, if so, do they actually improve health? For example, researchers in Alabama have addressed disparities in cardiovascular disease outcomes in their state by studying how to optimize implementation of screening and treatment guidelines in healthcare settings. Thanks to funding from AHRQ, researchers across the country – including FABBS scientists – have helped ensure that treatments and cures have the strongest impact possible for the American people.
Why is AHRQ a Target?
The agency has long been a target of Republicans, who see its research as duplicative of the work being done at and funded by other federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). However, the NIH mission is more on understanding organ systems and treating disease while PCORI’s research is narrower in scope, focusing primarily on patient-centered comparative clinical research. In contrast, AHRQ works on health services research (HSR) and primary care research (PCR) that explores how to best translate understanding and treatments into real-world change.
The Trump administration has also homed in on AHRQ in its mission to end so-called “woke” programs at federal agencies. In its two most recent president’s budget requests (PBRs), the administration has flagged AHRQ for significant cuts, claiming it funds research not aligned with the administration’s health priorities (i.e., Make American Healthy Again). The fiscal year 2027 (FY27) PBR states that the agency’s digital health portfolio is “harmful” (p. 23).
What has Happened?
Since taking office in January 2025, the Trump administration has gutted AHRQ to such a degree that the agency essentially cannot function.
- In April 2025, as part of the broader reduction in the federal workforce, HHS, along with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), fired nearly all extramural grants staff. As a result, the agency can no longer process and monitor new grant applications.
- HHS and DOGE also dismissed the agency’s communications and scientific review teams and halted peer-review panels. Ever since, there has been little to no communication between the agency and awardees, not even to notify that payments are stalled.
- The agency did not release any funds between September 2025 and March 2026. In early March, AHRQ spent less than one percent of its appropriated extramural grant funds, and these funds were for closing out older accounts.
- Later in March, the agency cancelled all open grant competitions.
- AHRQ convenes and provides administrative, scientific, and dissemination support to the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF). However, the task force has not met since March 2025, with HHS cancelling its meetings in July and November of that year. (See previous FABBS reporting here and here.)
- The FY26 PBR proposed cutting the AHRQ budget by 35 percent and proposed moving its statistical activities to a new HHS office, the Office of Strategy.
- For FY27, budget documents propose varying cuts to the AHRQ budget, ranging from about 30 percent to 37 percent. It is unclear which number is “correct.”
What is Being Done About it?
The stakeholder community has strongly pushed back against these attacks. In particular, the Friends of AHRQ — of which FABBS is a member — has advocated on the Hill for robust funding and staffing for the agency. In the final FY26 appropriations, Congress provided AHRQ with about $345 million, just a 7 percent cut, and left the agency intact, not moving any of its programs elsewhere. FY26 bill language also requires that HHS appropriately staff the agency so it can execute on the appropriations.
It is unclear how — and even if — Republicans in Congress will respond to the administration ignoring its guidance and FY26 appropriations for AHRQ. Friends meetings on the Hill have been promising, revealing that there is still bipartisan support for the agency. Democrats in the House have already taken action: In September 2025, members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Health formally requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate whether the administration has illegally withheld congressionally appropriated funds at the agency. Physician groups have also filed lawsuits in an attempt to get AHRQ to disburse its appropriated funds.
