Founded in 1946 in Atlanta to fight malaria, it now trains disease detectives through the Epidemic Intelligence Service and runs the national reference laboratories. Most of its budget moves to state and local health departments as grants.
Open the interactive page for CDC →Created byEstablished administratively July 1, 1946, as the Communicable Disease Center within the Public Health Service (under PHS Act of 1944 authorities); renamed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by P.L. 102-531 (1992); Director's office and authorities codified by the PREVENT Pandemics Act (P.L. 117-328, Div. FF, § 2101, Dec. 29, 2022)
Head appointed42 U.S.C. § 242c(a): Director of the CDC appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate — requirement effective for appointments on or after January 20, 2025 (P.L. 117-328, Div. FF, § 2101(a)); no fixed term (PAS)
Removal standardno statutory protection — at will
Funded underAnnual Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act; supplemented by transfers from the Prevention and Public Health Fund (42 U.S.C. § 300u-11) and Vaccines for Children purchases funded through Medicaid (42 U.S.C. § 1396s)
Congressional oversightHouse Energy and Commerce · Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Inspector generalHHS OIG (PAS establishment IG under the Inspector General Act, 5 U.S.C. ch. 4)
Judicial reviewAPA § 702 suits in district court when CDC acts with legal force (e.g., eviction moratorium vacated in Alabama Ass'n of Realtors v. HHS, 594 U.S. 758 (2021)); quarantine/communicable-disease orders under 42 U.S.C. § 264 reviewable via APA and habeas
Comment on its data and quarantine regulations; vote for President, who appoints CDC leadership, and for the state and local officials who decide whether CDC guidance becomes enforceable law where you live.
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