Senate Appropriations Committee Holds Hearing on FY 2025 HHS Budget Proposal

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies held an April 16 hearing on President Joe Biden's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2025 [refer to Washington Highlights, March 15]. The hearing, which included testimony from HHS Secretary Xavier Beccera, focused on the administration's proposals intended to expand access to care and lower health care costs, protect and strengthen Medicare and Medicaid, ensure access to reproductive health care, improve maternal health care, bolster the health workforce, strengthen behavioral health care delivery, particularly for substance use disorders, improve care for older adults and those with disabilities, prepare for future public health threats through investments in medical research, and end cancer as we know it.

Both subcommittee Chair Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R- W.Va.) highlighted the importance of medical research, particularly cancer research and prevention through the Cancer Moonshot. Full committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) focused on reproductive health care, particularly maternal mortality and access to care, and the continued need for investments in childcare. In addition, subcommittee members also raised issues including rural health care access, mental and behavioral health care access through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, Alzheimer's care, and HHS return to work policies.