WASHINGTON, DC - Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) released a statement following Health Subcommittee passage today of H.R. 2328, the Community Health Investment Modernization, and Excellence Act of 2019, which reauthorizes Community Health Center funding for four years, and included an amendment to eliminate cuts to Disproportionate Share Hospitals for the next two years:
“Today marks another step forward in this Committee’s bipartisan work to strengthen critical public health services for Americans. We are moving forward with legislation to eliminate two years of Obamacare cuts to our disproportionate share hospitals. This will provide certainty to hospitals that serve our at-need communities as we work on a long-term solution, and includes important transparency measures to strengthen the integrity of the program. We are also advancing reauthorizations for key public health programs, including our community health centers - a top priority for me and my Oregon constituents. Community health centers serve more than 271,000 Oregonians in my district, and this four-year reauthorization is critical to ensure patients are able to access health care in their community. This is good public policy, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee to get these bills across the finish line for American patients who rely upon these programs," said Walden.
Additionally, the Health Subcommittee successfully passed six four-year reauthorizations for the Special Diabetes Programs, Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education, the Personal Responsibility Program, the Sexual Risk Avoidance Education Program, Family-to-Family Health Information Centers, and the National Health Service Corps. Walden released the following statement:
“Reauthorizing America’s public health programs is a bipartisan commitment this Committee has consistently upheld, and we are doing so again today. For Americans living with diabetes, the Special Diabetes Program provides critical resources to the National Institutes of Health to continue vital research into prevention and treatment for a disease that impacts millions of our constituents. For people living in rural communities like those I represent in Oregon, the National Health Service Corps helps recruit doctors into rural areas where there is often a shortage of providers, something I hear from Oregonians consistently at town halls throughout my district. Along with the Personal Responsibility Program, Sexual Risk Avoidance Education Program, Family-to-Family Health Information Centers, and the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program, these programs are prevention and public health in action. That’s why we are moving forward with four-year reauthorizations for each of these programs to provide certainty to our constituents who rely upon them. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass these bills through the Energy and Commerce Committee and into law," said Walden.
