Appropriations - Fiscal Year 2008
In an effort to ensure full funding of essential federal rural health programs, the NRHA is constantly monitoring the federal appropriations process. Here you will find the latest news, updates and supporting materials on the funding of federal rural health programs.
FY 2008 Budget Activities
Final numbers were approved as can be seen on the FY 2009 Request Chart. They were a mixed bag for rural health, not as good as the Congressional proposals but no where as near as poor as the President's request. Thank you for your support!
November 13, 2007 - President Vetoes Funding; Signs CR
The President vetoed the Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill Conference Report that funds the programs that make up the "rural health safety net" programs. The President stated that the entire bill was over $10 billion his FY08 request. This money is less than a percent of the overall bill amount. The funding would have provided substantial increases for many rural health programs including Rural Health Research and Policy, National Health Services Corp and Community Health Centers. You can review the full chart of the conference report here. In addition, the President did sign the Defense Appropriations bill which will fund the government through mid-December. Current funding was going to run out at week's end.
Stay tuned... We will be asking all NRHA members in the near future to weigh in with their members of Congress to help override the veto.
June 7, 2007 - Great News for Rural Health Funding
The House Appropriations Subcommittee marked up the Labor-HHS appropriations bill on Thursday, June 7. This is the bill that funds the "rural health safety net" programs. The bill has good news for many of the programs that the NRHA monitors! We're delighted to see that our efforts paid off and the subcommittee included large increases to Outreach and Network Grants, Rural Health Research, State Offices of Rural Health, the National Health Service Corps, Area Health Education Centers, and Community Health Centers!
On the other hand, we will continue to work to reinstate programs such as the Community Access Program Grants, Health Education and Training Centers, Quentin Burdick Rural Training, and Rural EMS/Trauma that are still not funded by this Congress.
We expect the full House Appropriations Committee to vote on the bill in early July, followed by the full House of Representatives. The Senate is expected to look at the Labor-HHS appropriations bill later this month. The Senate has nearly $2 billion less slated for the Labor-HHS bill than the House, but we believe that these Rural Health programs will be protected. We will continue to update you and may need your help in order to secure these funds through the Senate and any possible Presidential veto.
You can view the updated funding chart here.
April 13, 2007 - Senate Caucus Letter to Appropriators
Thanks to the efforts of NRHA members, the Senate Rural Health Caucus sent a letter with one third of the Senate signed on to the Senate Appropriations Committee. This letter encouraged appropriators to consider the efficiency and success of the rural health safety net programs.
The following Senators signed on to the letter. If your Senator did so, please thank them for their support:
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Ken Salazar (D-CO)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Barack Obama (D-IL)
Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Olympia Snowe (R-ME)Carl Levin (D-MI)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Max Baucus (D-MT)
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
Gordon Smith (R-OR)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
John Thune (R-SD)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
John Warner (R-VA)
Russell Feingold (D-WI)
Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Craig Thomas (R-WY)
Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
Pete Domenici (R-NM)
Hillary Clinton (D-NY)This letter was a huge success despite having only a short time period in which to collect signatures. Thank you for your efforts to make sure that Congress protects and strengthens the rural health safety net in the FY08 budget. The Senate letter follows a similar letter sent with over forty signatures in the House. We anticipate the two letters will be the first in a series of efforts this year to make sure that the rural health safety net is in good shape in the final FY08 budget.
You can read the letter sent by the Senate Rural Health Caucus.
April 3, 2007 - House Coalition Letter to Appropriatiors
Work on the fiscal year 2008 (FY08) budget and appropriations process is ongoing. Both the House and Senate passed budget resolutions by party line votes before recess. A budget resolution would help set the overall funding amounts for the general categories such as Defense and Labor-HHS, which is the category that funds the "rural health safety net programs" for the year. Both versions of the budget resolution should be encouraging to rural health advocates as health programs would see increases over both last year's budget and the President's proposed FY08 budget. In addition, the Senate's budget includes specific nonbinding language that would give increases to HRSA rural health programs such as Outreach and Flexibility Grants.
Concurrently, the appropriations committees, who actually set final funding levels for individual programs, such as Outreach Grants or Area Health Education Centers, received letters from members of Congress over the last couple of weeks requesting certain funding levels. Thanks to your efforts, the House Rural Health Care Coalition sent a letter with over forty Representatives in support of rural health safety net programs.
The Representatives that follow signed on to the letter. If your member did so, please thank them for their support:
Artur Davis (D-AL-7th)
Mike Ross (D-AR-4th)
Rick Renzi (R-AZ-1st)
Mike Thompson (D-CA-1st)
Wally Herger (R-CA-2nd)
John Salazar (D-CO-3rd)
Mazie Hirono (D-HI-2nd)
Leonard Boswell (D-IA-3rd)
Jerry Moran (R-KS-1st)
Nancy Boyda (D-KS-2nd)
Ed Whitfield (R-KY-1st)
Charlie Melancon (D-LA-3rd)
William Delahunt (D-MA-10th)
Thomas Allen (D-ME-1st)
Bart Stupak (D-MI-1st)Dave Camp (R-MI-4th)
Fred Upton (R-MI-6th)
Collin Peterson (D-MN-7th)
James Oberstar (D-MN-8th)
Ike Skelton (D-MO-4th)
Sam Graves (R-MO-6th)
JoAnn Emerson (R-MO-8th)Bob Etheridge (D-NC-2nd)
Mike McIntyre (D-NC-7th)
Earl Pomeroy (D-ND-AL)
Charles Wilson (D-OH-6th)
Frank Lucas (R-OK-3rd)
David Wu (D-OR-1st)
Greg Walden (R-OR-2nd)
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-3rd)Darlene Hooley (D-OR-5th)
Christopher Carney (D-PA-10th)
Stephanie Herseth (D-SD-AL)
Bart Gordon (D-TN-6th)
Ron Paul (R-TX-14th)
Kevin Brady (R-TX-8th)
Jim Matheson (D-UT-2nd)
Rick Boucher (D-VA-9th)
Doc Hastings (R-WA-4th)
Cathy Rogers McMorris (R-WA-5th)
Jim McDermott (D-WA-7th)
Ron Kind (D-WI-3rd)
Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV-2nd)
Nick Rahall (D-WV-3rd)
Barbara Cubin (R-WY-AL)This letter was a huge success since many offices were hesitant to sign in lieu of new ethics rules. We anticipate that the letter will be the first in a series of efforts this year to make sure that the rural health safety net is in good shape in the final FY08 budget.
You can read the full letter sent by the House Rural Health Care Coalition.
February 5, 2007 - FY 2008 President Bush's Budget
On Monday, February 5, President Bush sent his budget request for fiscal year 2008 to Congress. For the fourth year in a row, the President has included a misguided proposal to cut the rural health safety net.
Read NRHA's press release.
See funding table for the rural health safety net.See NRHA's letter to President Bush with recommendations for 2008 appropriations.
