House Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 LHHS Appropriations

Earlier this week, the House Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee made its recommendations on the LHHS FY2026 Appropriations bill. Limited information is currently available, but please find below the bill language and the summary of the bill. Additional information (specifically, the report—which includes instructions to the agencies regarding the committee’s intentions, called report language) will be available after full House Appropriations Committee marks up the LHHS bill. Full Committee markup will occur next week on Tuesday, September 9.

Here is a summary what we know about what the House subcommittee bill proposed:

• • • Consistent with the FY26 Administration budget proposal (aka, the President’s Budget), the House proposal consolidates the Sexually Transmitted Infections, Domestic TB, and Infectious Diseases and the Opioid Epidemic funding lines into a new Consolidated, STD and Tuberculosis Prevention Grant that “gives states flexibility to address local needs in addressing state specific challenges.”
    • Funding proposed for this new Consolidated STD and Tuberculosis Prevention Grant is $353 million, $24.3 million less than the consolidated funding lines in question were appropriated in FY2024. (Reminder that FY2024 is the last year Congress broke out CDC funding by funding line.)
    • HIV prevention funding, including EHE, is not mentioned in bill language.
    • Proposed $525 million reduction in Ryan White Funding.
    • Funding for the Title X family planning program and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program eliminated.
    • No creation of the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), but allocation of $100 million for AHA activities.

Additional information can be found here:

• • • Republicans: Summary of the bill, bill text, and markup press release
    • Democrats: Fact sheet of the bill, summary of the bill, and markup press release

Reminder that this is just the next step in the FY2026 appropriations process—none of these proposals have been enacted. The Senate FY2026 bill was much less drastic, and their proposal looks much more like current funding levels. The Senate and House will need to resolve their differences and/or agree to at least a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) by September 30. While there is no denying that the House bill, if enacted, would have dramatic (and negative) impacts on the sexual health safety net, a House bill that more closely aligned with the Administration’s proposal was expected. And no final appropriations for FY2026 will be able to be enacted without some Democratic support, due to the need for 60 votes in the Senate.

Secretary Kennedy Congressional Hearing

Earlier this week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified in front of the Senate Finance Committee, just a week after the firing of CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez and the departure of three other senior leaders. After three hours of fiery exchanges, RFK Jr.’s appearance highlighted the country’s discord about vaccines, COVID-19, and the future of public health. Kennedy clashed with members of the Committee over newly restricted COVID vaccine access for healthy children and younger adults, as federal guidance is still taking shape under a new immunization advisory board.

The Hill article on the hearing can be found here.