HHS Spending Bill Clears Hurdle in House

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee approved a Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 spending bill that would cut the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by 4 percent, although billions less than cuts requested by President Donald Trump in his budget.

The bill boosts funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $100 million. Comparatively, President Trump called for a $5 billion cut to the NIH.

During the bill’s consideration, lawmakers approved an amendment that expresses concern over delays in announcing the availability of NIH grants, noting the amount available for such grants is down nearly 50 percent in FY 2026 compared with FY 2024.

The committee also approved an amendment that bars HHS funding appropriated in the FY 2027 bill from being used to implement the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model — a prior authorization model in Medicare that relies on artificial intelligence.

Lawmakers blocked an amendment to stop an Office of Management and Budget rule that proposes to give political appointees control over awarding federal grants. Also rejected was an amendment to protect NIH researchers from being fired for political reasons.

Spending cuts include a $2 billion reduction in funding for operating the Affordable Care Act marketplace, the elimination of funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and reduced funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The bill still requires passage by the full House and will ultimately need to be reconciled with the Senate spending bill.

The bill report is available here. 
From the Republicans: A summary of the bill is available here.
From the Democrats: A summary of the bill is here. A fact sheet is here.