Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Friday, September 25, 2026 the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) Reproductive Task Force Co-Chairs & Liaisons Kelly Morrison and Judy Chu, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) led 92 Democratic Senators & Members in a letter to the Department of Human & Health Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) demanding the return of Congressionally appropriated funds to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP).

When HHS initially terminated funding and announced their intention to redirect funds to ideologically conservative programs in July, 79 members of the DWC and Democratic Caucus sent a letter to HHS warning of the negative impacts this would have on communities. They demanded HHS restore the funding, provide the rationale behind each cancellation, and justify their plan to redirect funding. Since then, none of the funding has been restored to TPP grant recipients, and local programs that work to reduce teen pregnancy, STIs, and other health risks for young people have halted work.

Although the administration’s attempt to redirect funding was stopped by federal courts, the funding is now sitting unused with no publicized plan from HHS to return it and seems likely to not be returned to grant recipients. If the funding is not returned soon, the over $100 million that Congress appropriated to TPP grants is at risk of lapsing—wasting Americans valuable tax dollars and leaving programs across the country unable to operate. 

HHS’s only options are to either return the funding to the communities and teens who rely on it or let it go to waste. 

In their letter, the Members and Senators expose the uncertainty created by HHS’s illegal withholding of TPP grant funding: 

“As the fiscal year rapidly comes to an end on September 30, we are very concerned that your Department has failed to distribute over $100 million of the $101 million in funding Congress provided for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program. Your decision to terminate the vast majority of existing TPP grants this summer and your attempts to distort the program and impose illegal conditions on grant recipients have already halted critical work being done in states across the country to prevent teen pregnancy.”

The Members also explain the duty of HHS to distribute the Congressionally allocated funds properly: 

“The only reasonable path forward is to provide funding to the grantees that were previously subject to the Department’s arbitrary terminations. As of this writing, only $579,499 of the program's $101 million appropriation has been provided to a single grantee. It is clear you have no practical plan to legally spend down these funds before they expire, and the best course of action is to simply renew the awards that were terminated.”

Lastly, the Members closed by reiterating the damage RFK Jr.’s cuts have done to local programs across the country: 

“For example, in Central Pennsylvania, more than 10,000 teens—many of whom are foster youth, have substance use disorders, or face mental health challenges—will lose access to these critical resources due to the discontinuation of funding for a single provider. In South Carolina, the discontinuation of funds for another provider would impact over 6,450 youth and has already led to staff layoffs.”

Read the full letter here.

The letter was signed by: Alsobrooks, Angela; Baldwin, Tammy; Balint, Becca; Barragán, Nanette; Blumenthal, Richard; Bonamici, Suzanne; Booker, Cory; Brown, Shontel; Brownley, Julia; Carbajal, Salud; Carson, André; Carter, Troy; Cleaver, Emanuel; Craig, Angie; Crockett, Jasmine; Davis, Danny; Dean, Madeleine; DelBene, Suzan; Deluzio, Chris; Dexter, Maxine; Doggett, Lloyd; Duckworth, Tammy; Elfreth, Sarah; Escobar, Veronica; Espaillat, Adriano; Fetterman, John; Foster, Bill; Foushee, Valerie; Frankel, Lois; Garcia, Sylvia; Gillibrand, Kirsten; Green, Al; Grijalva, Adelita; Heinrich, Martin; Hirono, Mazie; Holmes Norton, Eleanor; Jackson, Jonathan; Jayapal, Pramila; Johnson, Julie; Kamlager-Dove, Sydney; Kennedy, Timothy; Larsen, Rick; Leger Fernández, Teresa; Lofgren, Zoe; Markey, Edward; Matsui, Doris; McBath, Lucy; McClain Delaney, April; McCollum, Betty; McDonald Rivet, Kristen; McIver, LaMonica; Menefee, Christian; Meng, Grace; Mfume, Kweisi; Min, Dave; Moore, Gwen; Moulton, Seth; Nadler, Jerrold; Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria; Pelosi, Nancy; Pettersen, Brittany; Pingree, Chellie; Randall, Emily; Reed, Jack; Ross, Deborah; Salinas, Andrea; Sanders, Bernard; Scanlon, Mary Gay; Schiff, Adam; Schrier, Kim; Simon, Lateefah; Stansbury, Melanie; Stevens, Haley; Thanedar, Shri; Tlaib, Rashida; Tokuda, Jill; Tonko, Paul; Torres, Norma; Torres, Ritchie; Trahan, Lori; Van Hollen, Chris; Vasquez, Gabe; Velázquez, Nydia; Warren, Elizabeth; Waters, Maxine; Watson Coleman, Bonnie; Williams, Nikema; Wilson, Frederica; Wyden, Ron.