Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
The House Appropriations Committee is on track to approve the Labor-HHS bill on party lines this afternoon, which funds HHS at 7% below the previous year's levels.
Why it matters: The committee members' comments at the markup suggest tough battles ahead over spending levels and bipartisan concerns about the bill's proposed NIH reorganization.
The latest: Appropriations Chair Tom Cole acknowledged that the GOP members crafted the bill under the spending caps agreed to by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, but he hinted that could change in final negotiations.
- "We made a decision to live with what was in the statute. I suspect that decision will have to be either accepted or rejected by those above us, but we thought that was the appropriate way to proceed," Cole said.
- As we reported yesterday, Senate appropriators agreed to increase emergency spending for non-defense programs by $13.5 billion.
- Appropriations ranking member Rep. Rosa DeLauro said House Democrats would only accept at least a 1% increase for Labor-HHS as well as for the other spending bills, and parity for defense spending.
State of play: As expected, Democrats oppose this year's Labor-HHS bill for its funding cuts and what they consider poison pill riders.
- The bill includes measures that would eliminate Title X funding that goes toward family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood and block federal funding for gender-affirming care.
- It would also cut funding for HIV, gun violence and tobacco prevention programs, and block the Biden administration from implementing its controversial nursing home rule.
The intrigue: Both Republicans and Democrats expressed concern at the proposal for NIH restructuring, which is a priority of retiring House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
- McMorris Rodgers released a proposal in June that suggested reorganizing the NIH from 27 into 15 centers, in an effort to combine certain centers that have similar research goals and provide more congressional oversight over the agency.
What they're saying: GOP Rep. Mike Simpson, a former dentist, said he was concerned about the consolidation of one of the NIH's dental research centers into the neuroscience and brain research center.
- He said the change "would threaten its mission and the United States position as the world's leader in dental, oral and craniofacial health research."
- DeLauro said the House "needs to hold public hearings and engage in a thoughtful process" on any reorganization.
- "Any discussion to reauthorize the NIH needs to be bipartisan and bicameral. Unfortunately, the proposed reorganization in today's partisan bill falls short," DeLauro said.
What we're watching: Cole said he'd push for getting the appropriations bills done by the end of the year, so that the funding process didn't have to bleed over into the next Congress.
- Last year, the House's Labor-HHS bill didn't get a full committee markup due in part to the chaos surrounding former Speaker Kevin McCarthy who received pushback from both moderate Republicans and hard-right conservatives on his spending bills.
- In contrast, Speaker Mike Johnson has so far been successful in getting four appropriations bills passed on the House floor, with the goal of getting them all passed before the August recess.
