After a shooter killed two children and wounded more than a dozen other people at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis in late August, Vice President JD Vance said that there is "a mental health crisis in the United States of America."
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also told Fox News a few days after the shooting that the National Institute of Health is evaluating some antidepressants and psychiatric medications "that might be contributing to violence." On Thursday during a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Kennedy clarified that he "did not blame that shooting" on antidepressants.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. testifies before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, September 4, 2025 in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
The suspect had an obsession with previous mass shooters, according to a police statement, ABC News previously reported. Investigators found notebooks filled with hate, violent thoughts and admiration for mass murderers, showing clear signs of deep mental instability.
Experts have cautioned against tying mental health to acts of gun violence, and told ABC News that the narrative that people with mental illness are more violent than their peers is false; the majority of people who commit violence do not have a history of mental illness. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has reported that "the large majority of people with serious mental illnesses are never violent. However, mental illness is strongly associated with increased risk of suicide, which accounts for over half of U.S. firearms–related fatalities."
But the comments from the Trump administration come after months of significant cuts to mental health programs across the federal government, which some experts said will lead to less understanding or ability to better treat mental health.
"There's a lot happening, and there's a lot of change with not enough details to really know some of the potential impact that these changes could have," Hannah Wesolowski, the chief advocacy officer at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), told ABC News.
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In May, for instance, the Department of Education discontinued Biden-era grants worth $1 billion aimed at improving mental health services in schools, saying the programs were not advancing administration priorities. The grants were allocated under President Joe Biden's signature Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, an anti-gun violence law signed after the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. (The Department of Education has indicated it felt the grantees were discriminatory and plans to re-award the funding to other grantees.)
Wesolowski said that "this is leaving school districts scrambling to figure out if and how they can afford school mental health professionals," or if there are enough trained professionals.
"The Department is strengthening the mental health grant programs and running a new competition to fund mental health practitioners on the ground working with local schools and students," Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications Madi Biedermann told ABC News.
"This is a departure from the Biden Administration's implementation of the program that instead focused on illegally awarding grants based on the mental health professionals' race or sex."
Beyond funding for professionals, funding for mental health research has also faced cuts.
MORE: 3 years later, 988 Lifeline sees higher volume but special option for LGBTQ youth cut
In March, for example, the Trump administration canceled several National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants focused on LGBTQ+ and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) research for allegedly not aligning with the administration's "priorities." Estimates published by the JAMA Network suggested that the most terminated grants came from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Wesolowski said NAMI is concerned about NIH cuts: "We still know far too little about the brain and the true causes of mental illness and what triggers mental illness and how best to treat it."
The White House has indicated that grants it says are effective remain in place, and that cut grants were largely focused on DEI.
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Later in March, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency that focuses on drug use and mental health, became combined with other agencies under the newly-created Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). This "restructuring" effort was intended to save money and streamline resources, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) said at the time.
The sign for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stands in front of the Hubert H. Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C., May 20, 2024.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
"Changes in access to data, to start, could influence our ability as public health researchers to understand evolving trends and needs in population health," Ettman told ABC News.
President Donald Trump's 2026 budget proposal also includes gutting around $1 billion from SAMHSA, among other HHS program cuts, saying that SAMHSA grants were used for dangerous matters. (The White House has framed the budget proposal as not specifically cutting anything, as a proposed budget not yet in effect.)
HHS further laid off over 10,000 employees in April, including an entire SAMHSA team overseeing the "only national survey focusing specifically on drug use and mental health" that had been in use since 1971, according to the survey's director, Jennifer Hoenig. Kennedy later told ABC News some programs would soon be reinstated because they were mistakenly cut.
One signature program from SAMHSA has been dialed back.
SAMHSA recently announced that the Press 3 option, which provides specialized care for LGBTQ youth, will no longer be a part of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. In a statement, SAMHSA said the move is because of significant operation costs and "to focus on serving all help seekers, including those previously served through the Press 3 option."
"Obviously, LGBTQ people can still call the general suicide hotline," David Stacey, Government Affairs Director for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group, told ABC News. But those answering the calls have less expertise "in the unique challenges that LGBTQ people might be facing… and so that's going to make those services less effective for that population."
MORE: Trump administration to close LGBTQ+ suicide hotline program next month
Wesolowski, who also criticized the elimination of the Press 3 option, said that it was encouraging that the administration has proposed continuing funding at the same level for the 988 program.
"Secretary Kennedy has a deep compassion for Americans struggling with mental health and is committed to addressing this national crisis. HHS is streamlining resources and eliminating redundancies, ensuring that essential mental health and substance use disorder services are delivered more efficiently and effectively," an HHS spokesperson wrote in response to a request for comment from ABC News about cuts at HHS and its agencies.
(A spokesperson for HHS also said that the Press 3 option for 988 had run out of congressionally directed funding, and continuing to fund it would put the 988 service in danger of service reductions, emphasizing that anyone can still call the hotline.)
Outside of cuts specific to mental health programs or agencies that administer them, some experts and advocates have also expressed concerns over how cuts and provisions in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" tax and policy megabill could impact how millions afford mental health resources and support.
President Donald Trump signs the "Big Beautiful Bill Act" at the White House, July 4, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
The bill is expected to reduce federal spending on Medicaid by $1 trillion and raise the number of uninsured people to nearly 12 million by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office, because of new work requirements.
Ettman said that Medicaid is the largest payer of mental health services in the United States, and that stricter eligibility requirements for programs like Medicaid that support access to healthcare "may have subsequent effects on mental health," she said.
If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises, or are worried about a friend or loved one, please call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.