Senate Appropriations Committee Releases Continuing Resolution
Following up on work completed by the House of Representatives last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee released its draft continuing resolution early this morning. The measure, which would fund the government for the remaining six months of fiscal year 2013, operates under the caps and sequestration established in the budget control act. The Senate's version of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 includes Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Homeland Security, Defense, and MilCon-VA appropriations bills that the Senate has already agreed to and level funding for the other appropriation topic areas, including Labor-HHS. All funding levels continue to comport to the caps established in the Budget Control Act of 2011. Some increases were included in the draft, including an additional $71 million for the National Institutes of Health. NRHA continues to advocate on behalf of all rural health programs including the Small Hospital Improvement Program, Area Health Education Centers, Rural Training Tracks, State Offices of Rural Health, and others. More information about the Senate's proposal is available here and here. More information on NRHA's "ask" for rural health funding is available here.