Senate, House set for clash over HHS funding bill

The Senate version of the fiscal year 2025 Health and Human Services funding bill sets up a fight with the House when both chambers return from recess in September.

The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced its version of the HHS funding bill Thursday with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 25-3.

Similar to last fiscal year, the House version of the bill is much more partisan than the Senate’s, containing controversial policy riders and spending cuts. Last year, many riders ultimately didn’t make it into the final legislation and funding levels were closer to what the Senate proposed.

Neither chamber is in session until after Labor Day, meaning there will likely be a sprint to pass the remaining appropriations bills or a continuing resolution by the Sept. 30 deadline, with the likelihood that a final spending package won’t come together until after the November elections.

The Senate bill that advanced Thursday provides HHS with $122.8 billion in discretionary funding, according to a summary. That’s $15 billion more than the House bill, which would slash HHS funding by $7.5 billion, or 6.4 percent, below the fiscal 2024 level.

The Senate bill provides $50.22 billion in base discretionary funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — an increase of $2.05 billion over fiscal year 2024. The House version kept NIH funding flat.

The bill would also restore Cancer Moonshot funding to its FY 2023 levels, an increase of $216 million.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would see a $173 million increase above fiscal year 2024, including money to support wastewater surveillance, data modernization and public health infrastructure and capacity.

The bill includes $613 million for the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative, which House Republicans eliminated in their bill.

It includes flat funding for reproductive health programs, including Title X and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, though House Republicans eliminated that money in their bill.