At press time, the U.S. House of Representatives had voted to cut 2004 funding for family practice training, and it was feared the Senate might slash the funding in late July or September. After the Senate acts, a conference committee will be named to negotiate differences between the two appropriations bills.
The specialty's federal funds come through Section 747 of Title VII of the Public Health Service Act.
The House voted 215-208 July 10 to cut Section 747 from its current level of $92 million to $79 million. A Senate committee voted June 26 to shrink Title VII, as a whole, from the current $308 million to $21 million, but some senators said they would try to protect the Title VII funding when the full Senate votes.
If the Senate votes to dramatically cut the Title VII funds, AAFP news publications will issue alerts to members and urge contacts with Congress.
FP Report is published by the
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Copyright © 2003 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.