Draft Omnibus Bill released by Congress
For the first time in several years, Congress released an omnibus spending bill to fund the Federal Government. Halting the cycle of passing "continuing resolutions," Congress put forward a full bill for all discretionary spending programs for fiscal year (FY) 2014. The omnibus package includes all 12 spending bills, including the bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, and Related Agencies. Full breakdown of the spending categories is available here. Votes on the omnibus package are expected to take place over the next several days. NRHA is incredibly thankful for the work done by the Appropriations Committees in both the House and the Senate. NRHA is specifically thankful to Senator Moran (R-KS) for making sure that a number of rural health programs were fully funded. NRHA will continue to work to make sure that all discretionary rural health funding programs are fully financed and encourages all grassroots advocates to do the same. One way to participate in this process is to attend NRHA's 25th Annual Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. on February 4th and 5th. More information on this important advocacy even is available here.