Last week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee advanced the draft of their Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill after a markup. While much of the package is likely to change with the Democratic-led Senate and President Biden aiming for more public health funding, it is an important marker of where the House majority is prioritizing different programs. Overall the bill totals $163 billion, which is $63.8 billion less than FY 2023 (a cut of 28 percent). For the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the bill includes a total of $103.7 billion, a cut of $17.4 billion (14 percent) below the FY 2023 enacted level. Nearly all major programs for public health would receive less money than in FY23 under this proposal, with others being eliminated completely.

Of this amount, the bill includes:

• $7.6 billion for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (a cut of $1.6 billion)
  • The CDC portion of the bill includes:
    • $100 million for Public Health Infrastructure and Capacity (a cut of $250 million)
    • $75 million for Public Health Data Modernization (a cut of $100 million)
    • $371 million for Global Health (a cut of $322 million)
  • The CDC portion of the bill completely eliminates funding for:
    • Firearm Injury and Mortality Prevention Research (a cut of $12.5 million)
    • Tobacco Prevention and Control (a cut of $247 million)
    • Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative (a cut of $220 million) (You can read more about this cut here)
    • Climate and Health program (a cut of $10 million)
    • Center for Forecasting and Analytics (a cut of $50 million)
• $44.6 billion for National Institutes of Health (NIH) (a cut of $2.8 billion)
• $500 million for Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) (a cut of $1 billion)
• $7.1 billion for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (a cut of $234 million)
• $7.3 billion for Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) (a cut of $700 million, not including Community Project Funding from FY 2023)
  • The HRSA portion of the bill includes funding for:
    • $781 million for the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant
  • The HRSA portion of the bill eliminates funding for:
    • Title X Family Planning (a cut of $286 million)
    • Healthy Start (a cut of $145 million)
    • Ending HIV Epidemic initiative (a cut of $220 million)

In addition to setting spending levels, the bill includes certain policy riders to impact the Administration’s ability to carry out certain programs. These include:

• a prohibition on funding for Planned Parenthood health centers
• blocking federal funds from being used for abortion services or reproductive healthcare services with limited exceptions (often referred to as the Hyde Amendment)
• blocking the Administration’s policies to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation in healthcare
• a rider to create a right to monetary damages in a civil action for a violation of the Weldon amendment.