House panel advances funding bill with deep cuts to health agencies

Legislation to fund the departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Labor cleared a House Appropriations subcommittee by voice vote Friday, despite objections from Democrats over sharp cuts to health agency funding and anti-abortion provisions.

The bill advanced smoothly with no major changes, but a much larger fight looms in the full committee. However, it doesn’t stand much of a chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where appropriators are crafting a separate, bipartisan bill free from any “poison pill” provisions.

The Republican-led House bill would slash or eliminate funding from a range of programs that deal with everything from family planning to teen pregnancy and even the HIV epidemic.

The bill would eliminate the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, cut all federal funding to Planned Parenthood, eliminate Title X family planning grants and stop the implementation of two Biden administration executive orders intended to increase access to abortion care.

It would also prohibit funding from being used for any “gain-of-function” virus research, prohibit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from enforcing a vaccine mandate on health workers and require HHS to give Congress an annual report on how many abortions were provided under Hyde Amendment exceptions.

“This bill represents a clear first step towards returning to fiscal responsibility while ensuring that funding for critical and high priority functions are maintained,” subcommittee chairman Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) said Friday.

Total spending on all three agencies would be cut by $60.3 billion, which is 29 percent of the current levels.

The legislation would give a total of $103.3 billion to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is $14 billion below the current enacted level and $26 billion below what the White House asked for.

Funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be cut by 18 percent. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would be funded $3.8 billion below current levels, and several departments would see reduced funding, including the Office of the Director, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the new ARPA-H program.

The bill “jeopardizes maternal, pediatric and public health,” said Appropriations Committee ranking member Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). “The bill, in my view, is shameful. But based on where the majority has taken this entire process, sadly, it is not surprising.”

The legislation maintains the Hyde Amendment, a provision that prohibits certain federal funds from being used on abortion procedures.

The amendment has been included in HHS funding bills annually since 1976, though some Republicans are pushing to pass separate legislation codifying it into law.