News From The Hill

Congress has significant work to do as lawmakers return following the Thanksgiving Holiday. Most notably, the House and Senate will need to pass a continuing appropriations resolution (CR) to keep the federal government operating with the current CR set to expire on December 3^rd. Expectations are that lawmakers will extend the timeline to the end of the year to buy enough time to negotiate and pass the twelve annual appropriations bills.

The Coalition for Clinical and Translational Science is supporting the following priorities and funding recommendations in an final Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 appropriations measures:

• $46.5 billion for NIH, consistent with the increase proposed by the House. And necessary funding to establish the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).
• $616.18 million for the CTSA program, consistent with the House proposal. And reinforce the Senate committee instructions prepared in response to the new FOA.
• $415 million for the IDeA program, consistent with the House proposal.
• $88 million for the RCMI program, consistent with the House proposal.
• $380 million for AHRQ, consistent with the proposal made by both the House and Senate.

Congress recently passed a bipartisan $800 billion hard infrastructure package (road and bridge, construction funding, etc), but Democrats in the House and Senate continue to negotiate a much larger progressive policy bill know as the Build Back Better Act. The House recently passed its version, but the Senate is expected to make changes as a final package is crafted. The House-passed bill includes the following medical research and healthcare provisions (it is unclear what will be included in any final measure).

• Expands health coverage provided through the Affordable Care Act.
• Provides additional funding for teaching health centers and graduate medical education. 
• Support pandemic response infrastructure.
• Funding for NIH to increase collaborations with HBCUs and minority serving institutions.
• Provides resources to enhance the health professions workforce in underserved communities.