Washington, D.C. — After massive cuts last spring, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is pressing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Erica Schwartz to restore maternal and infant health programs that have been decimated over the last year.
Sen. Ossoff is launching an inquiry with Director Schwartz following staffing reductions over the last year that have negatively impacted CDC maternal health programs, as Georgia continues to experience one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the Nation.
In March 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reduced the CDC’s workforce by approximately 2,400 employees. As has been widely reported, these reductions negatively impacted the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System and CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health, both of which support efforts to identify and prevent pregnancy-related deaths.
Sen. Ossoff is pressing Director Erica Schwartz on what actions the CDC is taking to ensure maternal mortality research and prevention efforts continue despite these reductions, and how the CDC will continue to support states, physicians, and hospitals working to reduce preventable maternal deaths.
“Every maternal death is a tragedy. Far too many women continue to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or the year following pregnancy from causes that medical experts have determined can often be prevented,” Sen. Ossoff wrote to CDC Director Schwartz. “It is unconscionable to continue to allow CDC’s maternal health programs be left vacant.”
Sen. Ossoff continues working to protect public health, the CDC, and its workforce.
In July, Sen. Ossoff led a group of Senate colleagues in urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to approve the transfer of $2 billion in funds meant for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to the CDC.
In March, Sen. Ossoff worked with Republicans and Democrats to ensure the CDC receives crucial funding to protect the American people, successfully defeating the Trump Administration’s proposed 50% cut in funding for the CDC in the FY26 budget.
Last October, Sen. Ossoff led Georgia’s Democratic Congressional Delegation in calling on Secretary Kennedy to answer for the chaos and disruption at the CDC that has marked his tenure, including the firings of CDC employees.
Last June, Sen. Ossoff spoke in the Appropriations Committee markup of the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education funding bill about bipartisan efforts to protect the CDC.
Also last June, Sen. Ossoff demanded answers from the Trump Administration following an NPR report that the CDC Program to prevent fentanyl overdoses had been frozen.
In 2025, Sen. Ossoff and other members of Congress demanded that the Trump Administration provide answers on the reported shutdown of a critical Maternal Health data system at the CDC.
Click here to read Sen. Ossoff’s full inquiry.
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