Senate committee passes HHS appropriations bill for FY 2024

The Senate Appropriations Committee today voted 26-2 to approve legislation that would provide $224.4 billion in funding for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education in fiscal year 2024, a 7% cut below the prior fiscal year.

Most details about the bill were not immediately available. According to a committee summary, the bill would provide $117 billion for HHS, $7.2 billion less than the FY 2023 enacted level. Specific levels include: 

• $47.8 billion, or $943 million more for the National Institutes of Health, including $100 million more for mental health research;  
• Over $5 billion for opioid treatment and prevention, a more than $125 million increase over FY 2023; and
• $172 million for the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program, a $19 million increase over FY 2023, to expand community-based clinical training and for repayment of education loans for individuals working in either a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area or where the overdose death rate exceeds the national average.  

It is unclear how this legislation will proceed through the legislative process, given vastly different topline funding levels under consideration in the Senate and House, which has yet to advance its version of this legislation through the full House Appropriations Committee.