AcademyHealth Members Make a Difference

Thanks to AcademyHealth members participating in a broad based coalition of health organizations, the Senate voted 73-27 on March 16 in favor of an amendment proposed by Senators Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) to the Budget Resolution, which establishes funding levels for broad categories of spending. The amendment adds $7 billion for a broad range of health and human service programs. During a briefing on Monday, May 1, Committee staff for Senators Specter and Harkin commended the health community for its tireless work in making passage of this amendment possible. They stressed that direct outreach by individuals and groups who care about health care and other important domestic programs drove the sweeping support of this amendment in the Senate.

The House passed its Budget Resolution, which includes an additional $3.1 billion for these programs, on May 18. Though negotiations on the final Budget Resolution are continuing between House and Senate on funding levels for these domestic programs, the House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittees are in the initial stages of preparing their spending bills; the House subcommittee is tentatively scheduled to mark-up its bill on June 7.

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