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News and updates

HHS Recovery Act Funding Available to Expand Health Professions Training

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HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the availability of $200 million to support grants, loans, loan repayment, and scholarships to expand the training of health care professionals.  The funds are expected to train approximately 8,000 students and credentialed health professionals by the end of fiscal year 2010.  Today’s funds are part of the $500 million allotted to HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to address workforce shortages under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The $200 million will be directed to the following program areas:

  • $80.2 million for scholarships, loans, and loan repayment awards to students, health professionals, and faculty. Of those funds, $39 million will be targeted to nurses and nurse faculty, $40 million to disadvantaged students in a wide range of health professions, and $1.2 million to health professions faculty from disadvantaged backgrounds.
  • $50 million in grants to health professions training programs. Funds will be used to purchase equipment needed to expand programs and improve the quality of training.
  • $47.6 million to support primary care training programs. These funds will support the training of residents, medical students, physician assistants, dentists and individuals, many of whom will practice in underserved areas.
  • $10.5 million to strengthen the public health workforce. Funds will support public health traineeships and increase the number of individuals trained through preventive medicine and dental public health residencies.
  • $10.2 million to increase the diversity of the health professions workforce.
  • And $1.5 million to support the efforts of state professional licensing boards in reducing barrier to telemedicine.

HRSA is using a competitive process to award all funds. Some awards will be made over the next several months.  In addition, funding opportunities for some programs will be announced over the next several months, giving applicants adequate time to prepare materials.  The remaining $300 million in ARRA workforce funds is being used to expand HRSA’s National Health Service Corps, which provides scholarships and loan repayment for primary care providers who serve in health professional shortage areas.  In addition, HRSA received $2 billion through ARRA to expand health care services to low-income and uninsured individuals through its health center program.

FY09 and FY10 Administrative Savings

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On Monday, the Administration announced that federal agencies had met the goal set by President Obama of finding at least $100 million in administrative savings from their agency budgets.  The 77 cost-savings measures identified by agencies would yield $102 million in savings this fiscal year (FY09) and about $140 million in savings in fiscal 2010.  Most of the proposals pertain to asset management (e.g., facilities, equipment, and vehicles), energy and other resource usage, meetings and travel, procurement and contracting, and productivity or process improvements.  The largest is a Pentagon plan to save $52 million in 2010 by using commercial jet fuel, but the vast majority would provide just modest savings.

Read the complete list of proposed savings.

House Approves Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill

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Last Friday, the House voted 264-153 to approve the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education spending bill for fiscal year 2010. Included in the House legislation is $73.7 billion in discretionary funding for Department of Health and Human Services programs. Funding would increase by $92 million for nursing programs, $10 million for children’s hospitals’ graduate medical education programs, $43 million for bioterrorism hospital preparedness grants, and $23 million increase for rural health programs. The measure would increase funding for NIH to $31.3 billion, an increase of $941 million over the FY09 level and $500 million above the Administration’s FY10 request.  Additionally, through a combination of discretionary and mandatory funding, the bill would enable the maximum Pell Grant to increase to $5,550 in FY10, an increase of $200 over the FY09 level.

In response to criticisms that Grants.gov is an inadequate portal for grants application and reporting, the House included language in the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill that directs the Government Accountability Office to review Grants.gov and “recommend a business model that provides an adequate, reliable funding stream and the appointment of a unified administrative body that is delegated both control and resources” for the online grant application system. 

It is expected that the Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations subcommittee will consider an FY 2010 Labor, HHS and Education appropriations bill on Tuesday.

Summary of House Labor-HHS-Education

This Week on Capitol Hill, July 27-31

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LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS:

Monday:

·        The House legislative business begins at 2 p.m.  To be considered, under suspension of the rules, are a number of bills involving veterans’ benefits, flood insurance and housing.

·        The Senate convenes 3 p.m. to consider S 1436, the Energy-Water Spending bill; no roll call votes expected.

 

Tuesday and Remainder of the Week:

·        The House legislative business begins at noon Tuesday; 10 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 9 a.m. Friday. Under consideration (under suspension of the rules) will be a food safety bill and a corporate compensation bill.  The House will also attempt to finish its fiscal 2010 appropriations process with the Defense spending bill.

·        The Senate will consider S 1436, Energy-Water Spending bill;  S 1407, Military Construction-VA spending; and S 1406, Agriculture spending.  Roll call votes expected.

 

MARKUPS and HEARINGS:

Tuesday (July 28):

In the House:

·        Energy and Commerce marks up HR 3200, Health Care Overhaul  

·        Financial Services marks up HR 3269, Executive Compensation

·        Natural Resources Subcommittee hearing on Wildlife Conservation

·        Natural Resources Subcommittee hearing on Unconventional Fuels.

·        Select Energy Independence & Global Warming  full committee hearing on Energy Technologies

In the Senate:

·        Judiciary votes on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to be associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and other pending nominations.

·        Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee marks up its draft fiscal 2010 spending bill.

·        Commerce, Science & Transportation full committee hearing on climate services.

 

Wednesday (July 29):

In the House:

·        Natural Resources marks up HR 1916 on migratory birds; HR 481 on scenic trails; HR 1641 on marine trails; HR 905 pm Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary; and HR 1771 and HR 1053 on Chesapeake Bay administration

·        Science and Technology marks up HR 3246 on vehicle technologies; HR 3165 on wind energy; HR 3029 on gas turbines; and HR 3247 on social and behavioral sciences research

In the Senate:

·     Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee marks up its fiscal 2010spending bill.

·     Select Energy Independence & Global Warming full committee hearing on Technology Property in the Global Climate

 

Thursday (July 30):

In the Senate:

·     Appropriations marks up draft fiscal 2010 Labor-HHS-Education and Transportation-HUD spending bills.

·        Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee marks up S J Res 7, to require that all U.S. senators be elected by the people of their respective states.

·        Environment & Public Works full committee hearing on “Climate Change and National Security”

 

     Friday (July 31):

     In the House:

·        Judiciary Subcommittee markup on Immigration, Citizenship Refugees and International Law Bills.

 

 

Source: CQ Today Print Edition

Update from Washington, DC

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Congress started off this week with the goal of advancing health care reform financing options in preparation for an overall vote on reform measures before their August recess.  By the end of the week, however, it became clear to House and Senate leaders – as well as the President – that they would not meet that deadline.  Instead they plan to continue negotiations through August and into September when they will try again to garner the votes they need to pass a comprehensive health care reform measure.  

This slight “slow down” has allowed everyone to catch their breath and focus on completing the remaining FY10 spending bills. 

The House is currently debating the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill on the floor and will likely vote on that final measure later today.  This follows the passage of the Transportation-HUD bill yesterday.  This leaves the FY10 Defense bill as the final spending measure in front of the House, which they will take action on next week. 

The Senate, meanwhile, continues to trail the House in their progress on spending measures.  On Monday they will take up the FY10 Energy & Water bill followed by action on their Agriculture and Military Construction-VA bills.  In addition to the Senate floor action on Energy-Water, the Senate Appropriations Committee next week plans to mark up another two of its bills: Transportation-HUD and Labor-HHS-Education. That will leave just Defense, which may not occur until after the August recess. 

The House and Senate will also continue negotiations over climate legislation.  The urgency on this issue is not as intense as it has been on health care reform and several members on both sides of the aisle seem to agree that this legislation will move after health care – sometime in the fall.  

While the Office of Federal Relations continues to monitor progress on all of these fronts, we are also beginning to look forward to August when many of our Delegation Members and their staff will return to the state.  They will likely focus their activities on meetings and other events focused on the current health care debate as well as continuing to seek feedback from constituencies on how best to craft climate change legislation.  

At the same time, we are beginning to talk with Congressional staff about their availability to be on campus for various meetings, briefings, and tours.  Please let us know if you are interested in inviting Members or their staff to campus for a particular event or if you would like to help organize a tour/briefing for your program area.  We’re here and happy to help coordinate schedules so that we can maximize the time that Congressional staff will give us for these activities.

Christy Gullion, Director