Vice Chairwoman Roybal-Allard, Appropriations Committee Pass FY 2022 Labor, HHS, Education Funding Bill

Press Release

Today, U.S Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), Vice Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, and the House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) funding bill on a vote of 33 to 25. The legislation passed in the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee on Monday.

For 2022, the bill provides $253.8 billion, an increase of $55.2 billion -- 28 percent -- above 2021. With this historic increase, the legislation:

Creates and sustains good-paying American jobs through investments in job training, apprenticeship programs, and worker protection;
Grows opportunity with transformative investments in education, including record funding for high-poverty schools and students with disabilities, and strong increases for programs that expand access to post-secondary education;
Supports middle class and working families with increased funding for child care and development programs, Head Start, and preschool development grants;
Strengthens lifesaving biomedical research with increased funding for the National Institutes of Health, including funding to establish the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health;
Bolsters our public health infrastructure with more resources for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and for states and local governments to strengthen infrastructure and capacity; and
Addresses our nation's most urgent health crises, including maternal health, mental health, gun violence, and opioid abuse, while making strides to reduce persistent and unacceptable health disparities.
Vice Chairwoman Roybal-Allard celebrated increased funding in the bill for numerous priorities she has introduced and/or supported for years, particularly public health and maternal health-related initiatives such as newborn screening programs and her STOP Underage Drinking Act programs. She also celebrated her successful efforts to include increased funding for Pell Grants and a directive for the Department of Education to find ways to increase funding for women's colleges nationwide.

"I'm thrilled that so many programs and initiatives I have worked on for years saw marked increases in funding in this bill, many of which would be funded at an all-time high under this legislation," said Vice Chairwoman Roybal-Allard, who serves as Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Maternity Care and who introduced the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Reauthorization Act (H.R. 482), a bill meant to eliminate preventable newborn deaths and severe disabilities through the increased use of comprehensive and standardized newborn screening tests that passed in the House in June. "The increase in funding for the HRSA Heritable Disorders Newborn Screening program and the CDC Newborn Quality Assurance Program will help states identify the needed tests to apply to newborns and help ensure infants born in every state receive rapid identification, early intervention, and potentially life-saving treatments. Investments in the HRSA Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Block Grant program will take critical actions to reduce infant mortality. In addition, the bolstered funding for my SAMHSA STOP Act Program will help protect young people from the harms of underage and excessive drinking. And the increased investments in public health programs will help ensure healthy communities and protect children from the dangers of lead poisoning."

"I'm also very pleased that the bill provides $24.7 billion for Pell Grants, an all-time high for Pell Grant funding, " Roybal-Allard continued. "Pell Grants are our greatest federal tool for improving college access and affordability, and this increased funding is a victory for American students and families. As we've seen a decline in the amount of women's-only colleges nationwide, I am grateful that the report language directs the Department of Education to provide information on the challenges women's colleges and universities face and recommend how federal resources may be allocated to ensure their resilience. Finally, I am elated that all of my Community Project Funding requests for our District were granted, and I look forward to seeing that money strengthen services in our CA-40 communities. Overall, this legislation rightly deserves its reputation of being "the people's bill,' as it will provide numerous critical programs with the funding needed to respond to the needs of Americans nationwide."

Below is a description of some of the programs prioritized by Vice Chair Roybal-Allard, which received increased funding in the funding bill:

Newborn Screening/Maternal Health Programs:

The HRSA Heritable Disorders Newborn Screening Program supports a number of activities that strengthen this system to ensure infants born in every state receive rapid identification, early intervention, and potentially life-saving treatment. The program was funded at $25.88 million, $7 million above FY21 levels.
The CDC Newborn Screening Quality Assurance Program provides unique technical experience and laboratory capabilities to help states add the correct screening test quickly and efficiently, while maintaining high levels of quality. Funded at $23 million, $5 million above FY21 levels.
The HRSA Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Block Grant enables states to: reduce infant mortality; implement prevention initiatives; help newly insured individuals access appropriate health care; improve state systems and infrastructure; provide wrap-around supports, medical homes, and family-centered, community-based systems of care for children and youth with special health care needs; and more. Funded at $868.7 million, $156 million above FY21 levels.
Public Health Investments:

$10 billion for the CDC core budget line would provide increased funding to build healthier, more resilient communities and ensure our nation's health is protected from communicable and non-communicable disease threats. Funded at $10.571 billion, $2.69 billion above FY21 levels, which includes flexible funding for public health infrastructure, regional capacity building and improvements for data collection and laboratory quality assurance.
CDC Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program provides national expertise, guidance, and surveillance of childhood lead poisoning in the United States. The CDC's current efforts prevent approximately 100,000 children from being poisoned by lead each year. Funded at $50 million, $10 million above FY21 levels.
STOP Underage Drinking Act Programs:

SAMHSA STOP Act Programs support an annual public service announcement campaign on underage drinking; grants to help community coalitions address underage drinking. This program was funded at $15 million, $5 million above FY21 levels.
CDC Youth Risk Monitoring Activities as authorized under the STOP Act support alcohol epidemiology including improved data collection on excessive drinking and related harms and identifying strategies to reduce youth exposure to alcohol and alcohol marketing. This was funded at $5 million, $1 million above FY21 levels.
SAMHSA Reducing Underage Drinking through Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBRIT) Program funds grants to train pediatric healthcare providers in using screening and brief intervention to reduce underage drinking and substance use. This was funded at $4.5 million, $2.5 million above FY21 levels.
Student Financial Assistance

Pell Grants: $24.7B, $2.25B over FY21 levels.
Pell Grant max award: $6,895, $400 increase over FY21 levels.
Women's Colleges & Universities

Directs the Department of Education to include in its fiscal year 2023 Congressional Budget Justification, information on the challenges women's colleges and universities face and recommend how federal resources may be allocated to ensure their resilience.
The funding bill also included all of Vice Chairwoman Roybal-Allard's Community Project Funding requests to bolster projects and programs in California's 40th Congressional District, including:

City of Paramount: Paramount Education Partnership (PEP) Learning Center and Program Enhancements: $550K;
City of Commerce: Commerce Public Library Homework and Learning Center: $300K;
Universal Community Health Center: Medical Services Expansion in South and East Los Angeles: $250K;
Coalition for Responsible Community Development (CRCD): Work for South LA, Transitional Employment for Formerly Incarcerated Adults and Youth: $250K; and
John Wesley County Hospital (JWCH) Bell Gardens: Dental Site: $300K.
A summary of the bill can be found here. The text of the bill, before the adoption of amendments in full Committee, can be found here. The bill report, before the adoption of amendments in full Committee, can be found here. In keeping with the Appropriations Committee's commitment to transparency, information on all Community Project Funding in the bill can be found here

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