Trump administration launches Great American Recovery initiative, shaped by Cabinet members' personal addiction histories
President Trump signed an executive order in January creating the Great American Recovery initiative, a federal program aimed at overhauling addiction and recovery services. Kathryn Burgum co-leads the initiative alongside HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the program has announced $800 million in addiction and mental health grants. Several senior administration figures, including Kennedy, Vice President Vance, and others close to the White House, have personal or family histories with addiction.
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President Trump signed an executive order in January 2026 establishing the Great American Recovery initiative, a federal effort to restructure how the government responds to drug and alcohol addiction. Kathryn Burgum, wife of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and co-chairwoman of the initiative, told the Washington Examiner that the overhaul would not have been possible without the number of senior administration officials who have personally experienced addiction or watched family members struggle with it.
Burgum said the initiative originated with her own advocacy work as first lady of North Dakota, where she worked to reduce stigma around addiction. After a two-decade struggle with alcohol addiction beginning in high school, Burgum has been sober for 24 years. She described bringing the concept to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, after which it was developed into a formal executive order.
The administration officials with direct addiction connections are numerous. Kennedy has publicly discussed 42 years of sobriety following a 14-year heroin addiction. Vice President JD Vance wrote about his mother's opioid addiction in his memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" and hosted a White House celebration in April 2025 marking her 10 years of sobriety. Wiles's father, former NFL player and broadcaster Pat Summerall, struggled with alcoholism before achieving sobriety and remained sober until his death in 2013. Trump's eldest brother, Fred Trump Jr., died in 1981 at age 42 after years of alcoholism. Special envoy Steve Witkoff lost his son to an overdose while the son was in treatment at a Los Angeles rehabilitation center.