House Committee Advances Fiscal Year 2026 Health Funding Bill

Each year, Congress must pass funding bills to keep the government running and fund federal agencies. This week, with 20 days until the federal funding deadline, the House Appropriations Committee approved its version of the Fiscal Year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, which invests in a number of ACOG funding priorities, while cutting others, and includes deeply concerning provisions that would limit patient access to care.

The House draft includes …

• Flat funding for the CDC Safe Motherhood Portfolio, which supports state maternal mortality review committees and perinatal quality collaboratives
• $1.4 million in additional funding for the National Health Service Corps
• Flat funding for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
• $200,000 for the Pregnant and Lactating Women’s Advisory Committee  to support advancing the inclusion of pregnant and lactating people in clinical trials
• $2 million for the Stillbirth Working Group  to support improved data collection and identify risk reduction strategies and initiatives for bereavement care
• Flat funding for CDC’s Surveillance for Emerging Threats to Mothers and Babies Network
• $10 million in additional funding for Public Health Data Modernization

Like the Senate, the House rejected the administration’s proposal in the president’s fiscal year 2026 budget request to restructure HHS, drastically cut NIH funding, and consolidate NIH institutes. However, the House’s proposal eliminates funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. While it includes a 2% increase for CDC’s core infectious disease efforts, it trims funding for the chronic disease center and consolidates some CDC programs.

The bill threatens deep cuts to or the complete elimination of funding for key ACOG priorities, such as Title X family planning, Healthy Start, adolescent pregnancy prevention, mental health and substance use treatment, domestic and global HIV prevention and research, and gun violence prevention research. The bill also includes harmful policy riders that would threaten DEI initiatives, further restrict access to abortion care, and interfere in residency education.

This bill is not yet final. Now that the House and Senate committees have advanced their respective bills, both chambers must vote to approve the bill and negotiate for a final package. As Congress moves through the process, ACOG is continuing its advocacy to highlight the value of priority health initiatives and research efforts and urge rejections of harmful riders.

Visit ACOG’s action page for opportunities to engage with your legislators on this and other ACOG priorities.