On July 1, 2025, Ohio Senator Jon Husted cast one of the 50 votes that passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which took back the unspent part of Toledo's $28.5 million grant to rebuild East Toledo's streets, and on July 17 he voted for the rescissions bill that ended federal money for public stations such as WOUB in Athens.
Husted also voted to confirm the officials whose agencies canceled or froze grants across Ohio: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose CDC clawback cost Columbus 11 people who worked on investigating infectious disease outbreaks; EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin; Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose NOAA lab that watches Lake Erie for toxic algae lost a third of its staff; and Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose department canceled the Cleveland Peacemakers' violence-prevention grant.
What It Cost: Ohio Health Departments, Lake Erie Monitoring and Local Programs Under Jon Husted's Votes
- Ohio's health departments. Ohio's health department said the $250 million in grants lost had helped with upgrading its disease reporting system and boosting public health laboratory testing. Because Ohio did not sue, its grants were not restored, and as of July 2026 only two have been successfully reinstated, leaving the remaining six grants actively frozen of eight disrupted CDC grants in the state.
- Columbus outbreak investigators. Columbus had received $6.2 million in CDC grants, and when about half of it disappeared, the city laid off 11 people who worked on investigating infectious disease outbreaks. Columbus sued, and a federal judge blocked those cuts in June 2025, but the city's health commissioner said it would not rehire the staff because the federal funding was expected to end in December 2025. In Appalachian Ohio, the cuts left the Jackson County Health Department half a million dollars short and ended its community health workers' outreach.
- Lake Erie drinking water. NOAA's Great Lakes lab has lost 35 percent of its workforce since February, Newsweek reported in May 2025, citing ProPublica, and staffing cuts forced that agency to suspend its deployment of Environmental Sample Processors that sample Lake Erie water. Toledo's water system had credited the Great Lakes lab and NOAA for alerting it to blooms near its intake days ahead; in 2014 a bloom left nearly half a million residents told not to drink the tap water.
- Environmental grants. Fifteen EPA grant lines in Ohio held $329.42 million in frozen funds, with no grants reinstated or unfrozen as of July 2026, and northeast Ohio was hit with a $129 million funding freeze to climate initiatives, the Partnership for Public Service found.
- East Toledo streets. Toledo's RIVER East award to rebuild Front Street and Main Street was only 7% obligated when the 2025 law took back the program's unspent awards, and the new federal grant the city received in July 2026 was approximately $9 million less than what was originally allocated, which the mayor said required a few small scale-backs.
- Research at Ohio State. Ohio lost $11 million across 31 disrupted National Institutes of Health research grants, and the cuts included 18 grants at The Ohio State University.
- Violence prevention in Cleveland. The Cleveland Peacemakers had $1,700,000 left unspent on a federal community violence intervention award when the Justice Department canceled it in April 2025, according to Everytown's tally.
- Public broadcasting in Athens. WOUB in Athens received about $1.5 million, or 30 percent of its budget, through CPB, and after the money ended it identified nearly $1 million in budget cuts, including some layoffs.
Jon Husted's Votes and Confirmations Behind the Grant Cuts in Ohio
- Husted Cast a Deciding Vote for the Law That Took Back Toledo's Unspent Street Grant. On July 1, 2025, Jon Husted voted yes on H.R. 1, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's tie-breaking vote. The law rescinded the unobligated balances of the Neighborhood Access and Equity program, about $2.4 billion of funding that was awarded, promised, and written up in press releases, Transportation for America found. Toledo's award had $26,515,354 unobligated when the law passed, after the city had already spent $2 million on the project, its mayor said.
- Husted Voted for a Law That Bars Its New Police Grant Money From Violence-Prevention Groups. The same law, which Husted voted for, sends new Byrne and COPS police grant money to violent crime and immigration enforcement but says No funds made available under this subsection shall be made available to community violence intervention and prevention initiative programs. Groups such as the Cleveland Peacemakers, whose earlier federal award was canceled in April 2025, cannot apply for that money.
- Husted Voted for the Rescissions Bill That Ended Federal Money for Ohio's Public Stations. On July 16, 2025, Husted voted no on an amendment to strike the rescission of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and on July 17 he voted yes on final passage of the rescissions bill, which passed 51 to 48. The law took back $1.1 billion in funding for public broadcasting through fiscal year 2027, and WOUB in Athens made nearly $1 million in budget cuts.
- Husted Voted to Confirm Lee Zeldin, Whose EPA Froze $329 Million in Ohio Grants. On January 29, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Lee Zeldin as EPA administrator. Zeldin's EPA froze 15 Environmental Protection Agency infrastructure and utility grant lines in Ohio, and none had been released by July 2026.
- Husted Voted to Confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Whose Department Clawed Back Ohio's CDC Grants. On February 13, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services. In late March 2025 Kennedy's department canceled nearly 700 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants nationwide, among them the grants Ohio's health department and Columbus used for disease tracking and outbreak investigations.
- Husted Voted to Confirm Jay Bhattacharya, Whose NIH Cut Grants at Ohio State. On March 25, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Jay Bhattacharya as director of the National Institutes of Health. Under Bhattacharya, the NIH disrupted 31 research grants in Ohio, 18 grants at The Ohio State University among them.
- Husted Voted to Confirm Pam Bondi, Whose Justice Department Canceled the Cleveland Peacemakers' Grant. On February 4, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general. In April 2025 Bondi's department canceled community violence intervention grants nationwide, including the award to the Cleveland Peacemakers, which had $1,700,000 left to spend.
- Husted Voted to Confirm Howard Lutnick, Whose NOAA Lab That Warns Ohio of Toxic Algae Lost a Third of Its Staff. On February 18, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Howard Lutnick as secretary of commerce, whose department runs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA's Great Lakes lab lost staff to a hiring freeze, forced retirements and firings, and scientists told ProPublica there are serious gaps in this year’s monitoring of algal blooms in 2025.
- Husted's Office Did Not Answer Questions About Toledo's Street Grant Before He Voted to Rescind It. On June 12, 2025, as Toledo's mayor asked Ohio's senators to protect the RIVER East grant, WTVG 13abc reported that it had contacted Husted's office and that Neither has responded about their plans for this project in the bills. Nineteen days later Husted voted for the bill that rescinded the program's unspent grants.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jon Husted on Ohio federal grant cuts
Did Jon Husted vote to cut Toledo's RIVER East grant?
Jon Husted voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed 50 to 50 and rescinded the unspent balances of the program that funded Toledo's RIVER East project, of which $26,515,354 was still unobligated. His office did not answer WTVG 13abc's questions about the grant before the vote (13abc).
What happened to Columbus Public Health's CDC grants?
Jon Husted voted to confirm the health secretary whose CDC clawed back grants in March 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Columbus lost about half of its $6.2 million and laid off outbreak investigators, whom it said it would not rehire even after a judge blocked the cuts in June 2025. Ohio did not sue, so most of its CDC grants were still frozen as of July 2026.
Who cut the NOAA lab that monitors Lake Erie's algae?
Jon Husted voted to confirm Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose department runs NOAA, and under him the Great Lakes lab lost 35 percent of its workforce by May 2025. The cuts forced that agency to suspend its deployment of Environmental Sample Processors in Lake Erie.
Last updated: 2026-10-25