Here’s the Public Health Impact
The US House and Senate passed the “Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019” this week. The president is expected to sign this bill into law soon. Here’s what the budget bill will do:
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Discretionary Spending: Increases the allocation for non-defense discretionary spending to $621.5 billion for FY20, which is an increase of $24.5 billion from FY19 non-defense discretionary caps. It also provides $626.5 billion for FY21, which is a $5 billion increase from FY20.
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Census: Provides $2.5 billion for the 2020 Census.
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Offsets: This legislation includes $77 billion in offsets achieved through increased fees and extending the sequestration cuts for non-exempt mandatory programs such as the Prevention and Public Health Fund through FY29. In other words- the Prevention and Public Health Fund won’t be cut this fiscal year – but the budget agreement contemplates cutting the fund in future years.
In Arizona the Prevention and Public Health Fund investments include immunizations, smoking cessation, diabetes prevention, opioid treatment, and more. Here’s a report we wrote that summarizes what the Fund does here in Arizona.