President’s
Budget Proposal Released for Fiscal Year 2019
On Feb. 12 the White House released President Trump’s budget
proposal for fiscal year 2019, which outlines the administration’s funding
priorities for the coming fiscal year.
According
to the HHS Budget in Brief,
the budget request for the Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block
Grant is $628 million. This would be a $13.7 million cut to the Title V Block
Grant compared to its current funding level.
AMCHP
strongly opposes the Trump administration’s proposed cut to the Block Grant and
will actively advocate for Congress to fund the Title V MCH Block Grant at $650
million for FY 2019.
CR
Passes with Five Years for MIECHV!
On Feb. 9 Congress passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the
government funded through March 23. Importantly, this deal also included a
two-year agreement to raise the budget caps, which means Congress can finally
get to work on a final appropriations package for FY 2018 and avoid
sequestration.
We
are thrilled to share that this CR included a five-year extension for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home
Visiting program (MIECHV) at current funding levels; extended the
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for an additional four years (in
addition to the recently passed six-year extension); and created
two-year extensions for other critical health programs such as community
health centers, the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), and
Family to Family Information Centers. In addition, the CR package
included $90 billion in further disaster aid for recent hurricanes
and wildfires and $6 billion to address the opioid epidemic.
Unfortunately,
the bill enacted some cuts to the Prevention and Public Health Fund to offset
other costs, though these cuts are smaller than originally proposed by the
House of Representatives. We will continue working with our partners in the
public health advocacy community to protect the Prevention and Public Health
Fund from further cuts in the future and to advocate that increased funds now
available due to raised budget caps be used to prevent cuts to the important
programs funded by the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
AMCHP
Hosts Successful Hill Visits and Congressional Reception
Last week, in conjunction with the AMCHP annual conference, dozens
of conference attendees visited their members of Congress and met with
congressional staff to discuss the Title V Maternal and Child Health Services
Block Grant and other key topics related to maternal and child health. The
AMCHP Hill visits included congressional offices representing 23 states, House
and Senate leadership, and each of the health policy and funding committees.
On Feb. 12, AMCHP hosted a reception on Capitol Hill attended by
AMCHP members, partner organizations, and congressional staff to honor AMCHP’s
2018 Legislative Champion for Maternal and Child Health Award winners Rep.
Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.).