(Dec. 18, 2007) The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee November 14 unanimously approved the "Community Health Centers Renewal Act of 2007" (
S. 901) to reauthorize the Community Health Centers (CHC) program and the National Health Service Corps (NHSC).
During the mark-up, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) offered and withdrew an amendment to establish grants for residency training at CHCs with the Chair’s promise that the committee would hold hearings on health professions shortages in rural areas. As we understand it, Sen. Murkowski intends to reintroduce the reworked amendment when the bill is brought to the Senate floor.
S. 901 incrementally increases the authorized funding level for CHCs over five years to $3.537 billion in FY 2012, a $1.3 billion (60 percent) increase over the $2.213 billion proposed for CHCs in the FY 2008 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations conference report (H.R. 3043).
S. 901 also includes language from a bill that HELP Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduced earlier this year, the "Health Care Safety Net Act of 2007" (S. 2333), to reauthorize the NHSC. This language incrementally increases the authorized funding level for the NHSC over five years from $131.5 million in FY 2008 (the amount included in the FY 2008 L/HHS conference report) to $186 million in FY 2012. The FY 2008 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill would fund the program at $2.213 billion. Note that an increased authorization does not guarantee an increase in appropriated dollars for the program.