Community health centers and a slew of healthcare programs would receive funding increases under a sweeping bipartisan government appropriations bill congressional leaders introduced Thursday.
The $1.2 trillion fiscal 2024 spending package covers about 70% of the federal government, from defense to labor, and includes $117 billion for Health and Human Services Department operations. The measure must be enacted by midnight Friday — an uncertain outcome — to prevent a partial government shutdown.
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The fiscal year began Oct. 1, but Congress has advanced a series of short-term appropriations bills since to maintain government programs while lawmakers navigated disagreements about federal spending in areas such as border control and foreign aid. The new bill is separate from a fiscal 2024 spending measure covering the rest of the federal government that President Joe Biden signed March 9.
The spending bill features a number of healthcare provisions, including an additional $1.9 billion for community health centers, which got $4.3 billion in the first appropriations package. The latest legislation would increase funding for cancer research by $120 million, Alzheimer’s disease research by $100 million and mental health research by $75 million.
Other healthcare elements of the bill include:
- $1.4 billion for health professions workforce development.
- $4.6 billion for substance use disorder prevention and treatment.
- $1.2 billion for maternal and child health programs.
- $345 million for the Improving Maternal Health Initiative.
- $9.2 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- $48.6 billion for the National Institutes Of Health.
- A one-year extension of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
The measure does not include House Republican proposals to further restrict abortion-related funding and to curtail research.
"When it comes to people’s health, our kids’ future and workers’ ability to make ends meet, we simply cannot afford to roll back the clock, and this bill ensures we will not by protecting and strengthening key investments in the American people and rejecting draconian cuts," Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a news release Thursday.
The deal is especially rewarding for community health centers, which endured months of uncertainty as Congress doled out funding in dribs and drabs via a series of stopgap spending bills.
"The funding comes at a critical time as health centers face significant challenges that include workforce shortages, changes in Medicaid enrollment and a changing environment for 340B," National Association of Community Health Centers spokesperson Amy Simmons said in a statement Thursday. "The federal investment will support access to comprehensive, high-quality affordable primary healthcare for more Americans, save tax dollars and lower overall healthcare costs."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) praised the spending deal and urged senators to advance it without delay.
"This funding agreement between the White House and congressional leaders is good news that comes in the nick of time," Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday. "When passed, that will extinguish any more shutdown threats for the rest of the fiscal year."
Still, in order for the bill to become law in time, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) must move it through the lower chamber swiftly and in contravention of a vow he made. Johnson pledged to allow lawmakers at least 72 hours to review legislation before asking them to vote, and sticking to that could push the House vote to Sunday.
The Senate would take up the legislation after House action. And every member of the upper chamber, where each procedural step can be prolonged for a day, must consent to advancing the bill expeditiously. At least one, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), has floated a threat to hold up the bill.
A short delay likely would have little impact on federal programs, but Schumer appealed for cooperation. "Once the House acts, the Senate will need bipartisan cooperation to pass it before Friday's deadline and avoid a shutdown," he said.
Neither the new appropriations bill nor the measure Congress approved earlier this month include other major healthcare priorities, such as efforts to tighten regulations on pharmacy benefit managers and to extend community health center funding through fiscal 2025. Congress is not expected to consider those bills any time soon, but may revisit them during the lame duck session following the elections in November.