Groups Urge House to Adopt Senate's Title VII Funding Levels

Physician training programs are facing another cut next year if Senate appropriators fail to hold the line on a $7 billion amendment to the 2007 budget package.

Multiple advocacy groups, including the AAFP, have been urging Congress to bring funding for physician training and other health priorities back up to 2005 levels. Initially, Senate appropriators had done that by adding $7 billion to the 2007 budget package that includes Health and Human Services and education funding. However, experts now expect that the Senate will cede to the House budget figure, which is nearly $3 billion lower.

The funding situation could have been worse if the House had not shifted $4.1 billion from the defense and foreign operations programs, but even that somewhat larger amount still is not enough to continue adequate support for Title VII and other programs, said Marcia Mabee, Ph.D., executive director of the Coalition for Health Funding.

“What that essentially does is flat(ten) funds; it is just the same exact amount of money as they provided in last year’s appropriation bill. As you know, what happened with that level of funding to Title VII was a two-thirds cut to the program,” Mabee said.

In a May 8 letter (PDF file: 17 pages / 72 KB. More about PDFs.)co-signed by more than 800 organizations, including the AAFP, the Coalition for Health Funding and the Committee for Education Funding urged Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., to match the Senate funding amount.

“America cannot sustain its global scientific and economic leadership, national security and citizens’ health and well-being without increasing these investments,” the letter stated. “While our organizations represent a wide array of domestic priorities, we are united in our effort to advance the bipartisan goal of adding $7 billion in discretionary funding for health, education, labor enforcement, job training and social services programs as the budget process moves forward.”

However, that viewpoint has yet to move House appropriators, who have agreed to comply with the president’s $873 billion limit on discretionary spending.

“The big issue for them and for the whole Congress is the overall budget cap on discretionary spending. We have been trying to bust that cap so that we’re not shifting money away from other needs to fund our needs,” said Mabee.

Other areas still suffer under the current budget outlook.

The president’s request calls for an overall $4.2 billion in cuts to the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies budget. Under the proposal, NIH funding would remain frozen at $28.43 billion, a $66 million cut from fiscal year 2005.