PRESS RELEASE: Senate Passes Short Term Funding Bill Funding Urban Indian Health and SDPI

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Meredith Raimondi, 202-544-0344, mraimondi@NCUIH.org

Shutdown Averted Through Dec. 20, 2019

The Senate has voted to keep funding the government and the President is expected to sign the bill before the deadline tonight. Following the lead of House who passed legislation on Tuesday, (H.R. 3055), the Senate passed the bill that will keep the government open until December 20, 2019. The stopgap measure is similar to the last Continuing Resolution in that it includes many health programs and the urban Indian health line item.  Notably, the Continuing Resolution extends the Special Diabetes Program (SDPI) for Indians – which will push back SDPI’s expiration to December 20th and give Congress another month to consider a longer-term re-authorization.  The bill also extends funding for Community Health Centers and the National Health Service Corps.

As federal legislators have been in negotiations regarding the FY2020 budget, the National Council of Urban Indian Health (NCUIH) has pressed Congress to fund urban Indian health at $81 million and to pass responsible legislation regarding the future success of urban Indian organizations.

Contact Congress Today

Contact your Member of Congress to encourage them to pass a budget for IHS to include the Urban Indian line item with increased appropriations that reflects and honors the trust responsibility.

• NCUIH’s Letter to the Senate Committee on Appropriations
• Sample Letter to Send to Congress
• Member of Congress Contact Information

For further assistance, please contact:
Director of Congressional Relations, Carla Lott (cmlott@ncuih.org).