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White House's proposed budget dramatically cuts funding for traumatic brain injury research
As the man whose signature appears on every NFL football was in the Oval Office for the announcement that the 2027 NFL draft will be held in Washington, D.C., ESPN.com published an important piece of news regarding one of the spending objectives of the man whose signature looks like the EKG of a myocardial infarction.
As the man whose signature appears on every NFL football was in the Oval Office for the announcement that the 2027 NFL draft will be held in Washington, D.C., ESPN.com published an important piece of news regarding one of the spending objectives of the man whose signature looks like the EKG of a myocardial infarction.
Via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com, the Trump administration's 2026 fiscal budget request to Congress would eliminate millions in federal funding for traumatic brain injury research and education.
The proposal, released on Friday, deep-sixes the CDC's department responsible for TBI research. Among other things, it would scrap $8.25 million for brain injury research and public education about the risks of concussions.
Congress is responsible for passing the final budget.
Rothstein adds that, on April 1, the CDC placed the five employees responsible for administering the U.S. government's primary TBI program on paid leave.
The article includes a quote from Dr. Owen Perlman, a member of the Brain Injury Association of America's board of directors. Dr. Perlman says the cuts would "roll back decades of progress" regarding TBI research and education.
The cuts would also kill Heads Up, which administers concussion-prevention programs for youth and high-school coaches in 45 states. As Rothstein notes, the Heads Up website, which is still active, says that more than 10 million people have participated in its online training programs.
Since the NFL had its Congressionally-forced concussion epiphany in 2009, it has been committed to concussion prevention and education at all levels of the sport of football.
It will be interesting to see if the league has anything to say about this. Given that the NFL has pivoted to a far more positive strategy when it comes to dealing with the current President, the most the league might be willing to say regarding anything the White House does is "thank you, sir, may I have another?"
