Please urge your senators to oppose any cuts to the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
Last night, the House of Representatives passed a short-term spending bill to fund the government through March 23 and extend funding for community health centers for two years. Unfortunately, as currently written, the spending bill would drain $2.85 billion from the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
The Prevention and Public Health Fund supports critical public health activities—including 12% of the budget of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lead poisoning surveillance, life-saving vaccinations, and other programs—in every state and community across the country. A robust public health system makes the difference between health and illness, safety and injury, life and death. Cutting this funding source would leave communities without the vital resources they need to keep people healthy and safe.
The richest country on earth does not need to choose between investing in prevention and funding community health centers to serve people of low income. In 2016, 2,000 community health centers provided healthcare to over 26.5 million people, with demand for community health center services growing over time. According to Congressional Budget Center estimates, funding community health centers for two years would cost just over $7 billion. After Congress voted to add more than a trillion dollars to the deficit in the recent tax bill, it takes astounding hypocrisy to insist we can’t fund community health centers without cutting public health.
Your senators need to hear from you today.
Call the Capitol switchboard—(202) 224-3121—and tell your senators that you oppose any and all cuts to the Prevention and Public Health Fund. Congress must act to fund community health centers—a vital source of healthcare for millions of people—but raiding the Prevention Fund is a short-sighted move that would devastate public health efforts. Congress must find another source of funding.
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