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What's affecting the FY23 appropriations process?
| Congress is grappling with FY23 appropriations while also addressing other funding issues including aid for Ukraine, COVID-19 funding, and the infant formula shortage. Read on to learn more about Congress's priorities. |
| Community health centers receive a portion of their federal funding, known as discretionary funding, through the annual appropriations process each year. Last year, Congress provided $1.7B for community health centers through the appropriations process. Health center advocates have been requesting additional funding for FY23 during the appropriations process, which is underway in Congress. Congress must pass the 12 annual spending bills required to fund the government before the fiscal year begins on October 1. However, the Appropriations Committees in both chambers are preoccupied with several different supplemental funding bills, and other contentious issues, which may interfere efforts to pass spending bills before September 30. |
| Aid for Ukraine |
| Last week, Congress passed $40B in emergency military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. The $40B follows $14B Congress passed back in March. Passage of funding was delayed in the Senate due to concerns about oversight of the funding.1 There were attempts to tie Ukraine aid to additional COVID-19 funding, but it was not included in the final bill.2 |
| COVID-19: Funding and Title 42 |
| Efforts to pass additional COVID-19 funding have stalled multiple times. President Biden initially requested $22B in COVID-19 funding for testing, treatment, and vaccines, however negotiations resulted in a much smaller package with the final amount likely to be around $10B. Negotiations over additional COVID-19 funding most recently halted because due to disagreements in Congress over the future of an immigration policy known as Title 42.3 Title 42 allows the U.S. to turn away migrants at the border due to concerns about contagious diseases and was invoked in March 2020. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) planned to end the policy at the end of this month.4 Last week, a federal judge issued a nationwide injunction, blocking the Biden administration's attempts to stop the use of Title 42. The Biden administration plans to appeal the decision.5 |
| Infant Formula Shortage |
| This week, Congress passed the Access to Baby Formula Act to give the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) authority to waive requirements around the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program to expand access to formula for WIC recipients. The House passed another bill meant to address the infant formula shortage, the Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act, but it's future in the Senate is unclear. The bill would provide $28M to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to support inspections at manufacturing facilities and other resources to address scarcities.6 |
| [1] Senate clears $40B Ukraine aid package. 2022. POLITICO. Retrieved from https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/19/senate-40-billion-ukraine-aid-bill-00033719 |
| [2] Future of COVID-19 funds in doubt as Ukraine aid advances. 2022. The Hill. Retrieved from https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3483639-future-of-covid-19-aid-in-doubt-as-ukraine-aid-advances/ |
| [3] Ibid. |
| [4] Key facts about Title 42, the pandemic policy that has reshaped immigration enforcement at U.S.-Mexico border. (2022).2022. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/04/27/key-facts-about-title-42-the-pandemic-policy-that-has-reshaped-immigration-enforcement-at-u-s-mexico-border/ |
| [5] Judge blocks Biden administration from lifting Title 42 border policy. 2022. POLITICO. Retrieved from https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/20/judge-blocks-biden-administration-from-lifting-title-42-border-policy-00034195 |
| [6] This week: Baby formula shortage hearings, Senate set for domestic terror bill fight. 2022. The Hill. Retrieved 25 May 2022, from https://thehill.com/news/house/3497625-this-week-baby-formula-shortage-hearings-senate-set-for-domestic-terror-bill-fight/ |