Donna Brown, JD, MPH, Government Affairs Counsel
(dbrown@naccho.org)
Public Health Funding Update
On July 19, the House of Representatives passed its FY08 Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations bill. The bill passed by a margin of 276-140 (66.3 %), with 53 Republicans supporting the bill. A margin of 66.7% would allow a veto override. Thanks go to all NACCHO members who made calls and wrote letters in advance of the vote.
The bill provides small increases in funding for many public health programs. The Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant received $109 million, an increase of $10 million over FY07 and the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant received $750 million, an increase of $57 million. The Section 317 immunization program received $599 million, an $80 million increase. State and local emergency preparedness cooperative agreement grants received $760 million in the Senate and $734 million in the House.
The Senate has not passed its Labor-HHS-Education bill and it appears unlikely that it will do so. It is more likely that the House and the Senate will reconcile the bill that passed the House and the bill that passed the Senate Appropriations Committee. The House Appropriations Committee approved, by voice vote, an amendment to the bill introduced by Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL) that states “None of the funds appropriated in this Act may be used to administer to any child under 3 years of age an influenza vaccine during the 2008-2009 influenza season for which thimerosal is listed on the labeling as an ingredient.” This amendment was not included in the Senate bill and NACCHO will be working to eliminate this amendment from the final appropriations legislation.
Public Health Workforce Legislation Introduced
On July 26, Senators Hagel (R-NE) and Durbin (D-IL) introduced a bill (S. 1882) to help support and increase the public health workforce available for preparedness activities. This bill would provide scholarships and loan repayment to encourage individuals to enter careers in public health preparedness. The legislation would authorize $35 million per year for student scholarships and $195 million per year for loan repayments. Once the bill is passed and signed into law, appropriations will have to be passed through the regular budgeting process to fund these programs. The bill would also support mid-career training for public health professionals to join the preparedness or biodefense workforce. These are important steps toward addressing workforce shortages in local health departments and ensuring that the necessary staff is available to respond to a public health emergency. NACCHO is working with Senators Hagel and Durbin to advance this legislation. This bill is highlighted at NACCHO’s Legislative Action Center http://capwiz.com/naccho/home/ under Legislation.
SCHIP Reauthorization Passed by Congress
Prior to adjourning for the August recess, the House and Senate both passed bills reauthorizing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
The Senate bill would provide a $35 billion increase for the program over 5 years through a .61 increase in the tobacco tax. The bill would add approximately 4 million uninsured children to the program and would phase out coverage for childless adults. The House bill would add $50 billion over five years and includes a .45 increase in the tobacco tax. The bill would add 5 million children to the program and would include pregnant women and some legal immigrants. The House bill also includes Medicare and rural health provisions.
The two bills need to be reconciled before final legislation is passed and sent to the President. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill because of the increased level of spending over the $5 billion he included in his FY08 budget.
Farm Bill Advocacy to Combat Chronic Disease
NACCHO has joined with a coalition of public health, food security and food producer groups to advocate for nutrition provisions as part of this year’s Farm Bill. This Farm Bill represents a crucial opportunity to promote access to healthy food choices and thereby address the increasing prevalence of obesity and obesity-related chronic diseases.
The coalition has determined five priorities for action:
Food Stamp Nutrition Education
The Secretary of Agriculture should support and encourage the most effective interventions for nutrition education under the Food Stamp Act of 1977, including public health approaches as well as traditional education, to increase the likelihood that recipients of Food Stamps benefit, and that those who are potentially eligible for such benefits will choose diets and physical activity practices consistent with the Dietary Guidelines.
Community Food Projects
First authorized in the 1996 Farm Bill, the Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program (CFP) has made grants to over 240 innovative community food projects, promoting a wide variety of community-based solutions to local food system and food security problems. Several CFP grants help to ensure that healthy foods are available to residents of low income communities, addressing long-standing health inequities that produce unequal health outcomes based partly on economic factors. Building on this success, we are proposing to keep the funding mandatory and increase funding to $30 million/year.
Healthy Food Enterprise Development Program
A new program, Healthy Food Enterprise Development program, helps to provide locally grown healthy foods to public institutions such as schools and hospitals and spurs innovation and entrepreneurship in the food supply chain by providing feasibility grants and direct USDA loans and loan guarantees. The Healthy Food Enterprise Development program provides mandatory funds for grants for feasibility studies, direct loans, loan guarantees and technical assistance for minority producers and low-income communities. NACCHO supports the authorization of the Healthy Food Enterprise Development program in the 2007 Farm Bill at $42.5 million.
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program
Originally started in the 2002 Farm Bill, the goal of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program (FFVP) is to increase children’s consumption of healthy fresh fruits and vegetables. This highly effective program has proven to be a model for increasing children’s consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables – decreasing their purchase of soda, chips and candy - and a cornerstone in schools’ efforts to create healthier school food environments. Currently, 375 schools in 14 states and 3 Indian Tribal Organizations are funded to provide fresh fruit and vegetable snacks for free to school children every day. The 2007 Farm Bill provides an unprecedented opportunity to expand this program nationally to benefit children’s health. $300 million/year in mandatory funding will allow 10% of all schools and school children in the U.S. to participate.
DoD Fresh Program
The DoD Fresh is the primary procurement program by the Department of Defense that enables schools to serve more fresh fruits and vegetables in school lunches. DoD Fresh is very effective in providing high quality, low-cost fresh fruits and vegetables delivered directly to schools in the amounts they need. The program is currently funded at $50 million/year; increased funding to $75 million in FY’09 and FY’10, $100 million for FY’11 and $125 million in FY’12 would enable more fresh fruits and vegetables to be served in school meals.
***Remember to visit http://capwiz.com/naccho/home/ for all the latest legislative news from Washington.***
