On April 30, the House Labor-Health and Human Services appropriations subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), approved its fiscal year (FY) 2020 health research and services spending bill, known as the Labor-HHS bill. The bill includes a proposed $2 billion funding increase for the NIH. Although details for all programs that the ATS monitors, such as CDC’s TB program, have not yet been released, the House FY2020 bill includes the following proposed funding levels for programs that the ATS monitors:

• $2 billion funding increase for the NIH, for a proposed FY2020 level of $41.1 billion
• $921 million funding increase for the CDC, for a proposed FY2020 level of $8.3 billion
• $40 million funding increase for the CDC’s tobacco control program, for a proposed level of $250 million
• $10 million funding increase for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for a proposed FY2020 level of $346 million
• $5 million funding increase for the CDC’s Health Impacts of Climate Change program, for a proposed FY2020 level of $15 million. 

The next step for the House health spending bill is a full House Appropriations Committee vote, scheduled for May 7. However, following this action, the bill’s outlook is unclear due to austere overall budget caps, which are still in effect, absent a bipartisan deal to lift them. The House bill also did not secure any bipartisan support from the subcommittee’s Republicans, although Ranking Member Tom Cole (R-OK) did express support for the proposed NIH funding increase. The Senate subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), is expected to begin moving its bill in June, although if there is still no bipartisan budget deal by then, the Senate bill will provide flat funding at FY2019 levels for most programs.