Early this morning, both chambers of Congress approved a spending bill written by the Majority and Minority leaders in the Senate. Following the vote, President Trump signed the bill into law, reopening the federal government after an hours-long shutdown. The bill funds the federal government untilMarch 23, 2018.
As NIHB previously reported, the spending bill includes long term funding for several public health programs, including Community Health Centers, CHIP, and the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. NIHB is also very pleased to be able to report that at long last the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) has been renewed at the current funding level of $150 million until the end of FY 2019.
NIHB has issued several updates, calls to action, and alerts to ensure this moment arrived. SDPI is a life-saving, fiscally sound program that currently funds 301 Tribally-operated programs to target Type-2 diabetes in Indian Country. Failure to renew the program would have risked reversing all the critical gains made over the last two decades of the program.
Thank you to all of you who contacted your Members of Congress and advocated for renewal of SDPI! Without the support of advocates throughout Indian Country we could not have been successful in this effort.
Of course, NIHB has long advocated for an increase in SDPI funding, which will remain at its 2004 level of $150 million per year through its new authorization, which now expires on September 30, 2019. NIHB will continue to support H.R. 2545 and S. 747 to fund SDPI for 7 years at a level that accounts for medical inflation.
If you have any questions, please contact NIHB Director of Congressional Relations, Caitrin Shuy at (202) 507-4085 or cshuy@nihb.org.
