New Republican Legislation Includes Severe Cuts to HHS, NIH, and the CDC While Eliminating Funding for the Title X Family Planning Program
Washington DC — Today, House Republicans released legislation that would put the health and well-being of the American people in jeopardy. The radical bill includes cuts to critical health care agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The legislation also eliminates funding for the Title X Family Planning Program, which is a lifeline for low-income families across the country for contraception, cancer screenings, and other basic primary and preventive health services. This comes after Republican lawmakers passed legislation to promote junk plans that can discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. All of these proposals are particularly harmful for communities of color, LGBTQI+, people in rural areas, and other marginalized groups who are more likely to have poorer health and to be living in poverty. In response, Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach issued the following statement:
“Republicans are once again showing us who they are and who they serve. They are not interested in protecting the programs that work to advance our nation’s health care system by lowering costs and improving public health. Instead, they are interested in lining the pockets of Big Pharma and the wealthiest individuals and corporations. Ripping away the Title X Family Planning Program is unconscionable at a time when conservatives have made it harder to get abortion care and as America faces a worsening maternal mortality crisis. If Republicans were serious, they would throw out this reckless, ultra-MAGA plan and prioritize legislation to expand access to affordable care, not gutting the programs that people across the nation depend on.”