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AUCD's Disability Policy News (DPN) is a weekly newsletter highlighting federal policy issues affecting people with disabilities and their families. DPN features updates in plain language and action steps that people can take to educate policymakers. DPN is published every Friday.
In this edition:
Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing – On May 21, the Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing in its Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to review the President’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request for the agency. The witnesses were:
Dr. Griffin Rodgers, Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Disease
Dr. Anthony Letai, Director of the National Cancer Institute
Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse
Dr. Richard Hodes, Director of the National Institute on Aging
Dr. Joni Rutter, Director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Senators questioned the witnesses about biomedical research, addiction and opioids, and investment in research institutions and facilities.
Key Takeaways
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) was particularly upset about the President’s Budget request for NIH, which would cut funding for the agency by about $5 billion. Chair Collins has expressed her concern about the President’s proposed cap on indirect costs at research facilities, which Congress rejected last year. She said that “a cap would negatively affect cutting-edge research happening at universities, nonprofit laboratories, medical centers around the country.”
Subcommittee Ranking Member Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) contended that the Administration is anti-science and anti-vaccine. She and Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) questioned Director Bhattacharya specifically about how NIH has terminated over 5,000 grants, slashed nearly a quarter of workforce, and cut research grants by 22 percent.
Senator Baldwin also mentioned that HHS canceled $500 million for mRNA vaccine research, and redirected some of it to outdated vaccine technology and research being done by a “vaccine skeptic”. She alleged that Secretary Kennedy is pushing his own negative ideology about mRNA vaccines while dismantling infectious disease research.
House Ways and Means Committee Markup – On May 21, the House Ways and Means Committee marked up a few bills and passed them out of committee. One bill, the Protecting Seniors and Stopping Fraudsters Act (H.R.8883), would implement stricter oversight for hospice and home health agencies. It would implement increased survey frequency for newly enrolled hospices and home health agencies, providers with ownership changes, or providers displaying signs of fraudulent behavior. You can read more about the bill and markup here.
Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing – On May 21, the Senate Appropriations committee had a hearing, which is when Senators meet with people to publicly talk about a topic. This hearing was on the President's Budget request for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The President writes a budget that they have to send to Congress every year. This budget shows how much money they want to give to different parts of the government. It is not a law. The Administration wrote a budget and sent out some information on it. The budget shows they want to cut funding for a lot of things that NIH does, like research.
A part of the Senate Appropriations committee is the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. This was the part of the committee that had the hearing. These were the people who met with the Subcommittee at the hearing:
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, NIH Director
Dr. Griffin Rodgers, Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Disease
Dr. Anthony Letai, Director of the National Cancer Institute
Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse
Dr. Richard Hodes, Director of the National Institute on Aging
Dr. Joni Rutter, Director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Senators asked these people about research, addiction, and money for universities and companies that do important research into health and diseases like cancer. Addiction is when you can't stop drinking, taking a drug, or doing something else that is bad for you.
Subcommittee Ranking Member Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Washington), and Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) were upset that the President wanted to cut a lot of money from the NIH. They said that the money was really important to do research into diseases and help find cures to help people. Senators Baldwin and Murray talked about how the Administration had fired a lot of people from NIH, which makes it harder for NIH to do important work. They also said that the Administration canceled $500 million for mRNA vaccine research, even though that research could help a lot of people stay safe from diseases. mRNA vaccines are a kind of vaccines, which are shots that keep people safe from diseases.
House Ways and Means Committee – On May 21, the House Ways and Means Committee had a markup, which is a meeting where Members decide whether or not to make changes to bills and then vote to pass bills. During this markup, the Committee decided to pass the Protecting Seniors and Stopping Fraudsters Act (H.R.8883). This bill would create more rules to make sure that hospice and home health agencies are not committing fraud. Fraud is when you pretend to do something or be someone else in order to get money. Hospice care is for people who are going to die from a disease. Many Republicans in Congress and the Administration say that there is a lot of fraud in hospice and in home health.
View past issues of Disability Policy News to learn more about AUCD's policy priorities and how you can engage in policy actions.
