Call to Action: Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill
For the first time in more than 20 years, Congress is on track to pass a Labor-HHS-Education spending bill before the end of the fiscal year. Last week, the House agreed to move to conference with the Senate to work out the differences between each chamber’s version of the bill. The bills contains a number of bad funding cuts.
The House version eliminates funding for the Title X family planning program and the HHS Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. I can’t tell whether the Senate version does the same or not. The House bill also cuts all funding for the CDC’s Climate and Health program and once again fails to fund CDC research into firearm morbidity and mortality prevention. The bill also weakens the Affordable Care Act by blocking funds for implementing the law.
Congress only has a few legislative days left to finalize the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill before the end of the fiscal year. If they don’t pass something they’ll probably pass a continuing resolution to keep key public health agencies operating (actually- not a bad outcome honestly).
Now is the time to Speak for Public Health! You can use this link to Contact your members of Congress and ask them to support robust funding for key public health agencies and programs, and urge them to reject any controversial policy riders that would threaten public health.
