On July 27, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved, 26-2, its bipartisan fiscal year (FY) 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) spending bill (S. 2624) and accompanying report (S. Rept. 118-84). The bill would maintain or modestly increase funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), health workforce programs, and public health programs. The AAMC issued a statement commending the committee’s bipartisan approach in light of limited budget allocations and their commitment “to avoid problematic policy provisions that would impose arbitrary restrictions on efforts to advance research, education, public health, and health care.”
Specifically, for NIH, the bill would provide $47.7 billion, including $678 million in emergency funding to restore a scheduled reduction in funding from the 21st Century Cures Act. The total funding level would represent a net increase of $265 million (0.6%) over the comparable FY 2023 funding level, a stark contrast to the cuts proposed by the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee [refer to Washington Highlights, July 14]. Additionally, the bill would provide $1.5 billion in new funding to the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, as in FY 2023.
The report detailed increases for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) and a few of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Title VII and VII programs and, but overall flat funding for most of the HRSA workforce programs, including the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education program. During the markup, the committee adopted various amendments, including an amendment from Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) that would allow HRSA to ensure “that no State has fewer than five [NHSC] awardees in fiscal year 2024.” The bill also would provide $370.5 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a $3 million (0.8 percent) cut below FY 2023, and effectively maintain the program level for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the FY 2023 total of $9.2 billion, among other investments.
Following the mark-up, Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-Maine) issued a joint statement noting the committee’s passage of all twelve bipartisan appropriations bills before the August recess. The House Appropriations Committee has not announced plans to consider its version of the FY 2024 spending bill.