House and Senate Approve Six Fiscal Year 2010 Spending Bills - December 15, 2009

The House and Senate have adopted an omnibus package of six Fiscal Year 2010 appropriations bills, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS-Education) bill. The omnibus bill, which now awaits the President’s signature, includes $446.8 billion in discretionary spending. Of particular note, the bill includes $98 million in funding for health professions workforce programs (a $105 million increase over FY 2009 levels), $75 million in funding for HRSA’s State Health Access Grants program (same level as FY 2009), $2.2 billion for community health centers (same level as FY 2009), $31 billion for the National Institutes of Health ($692 million above FY 2009 levels), and $190 million to combat healthcare-associated infections ($28 million above FY 2009 levels). A summary of the bill prepared by the House Appropriations Committee is available online.