Alerts1.28.26
Healthcare Extenders Could Pass with Labor-HHS Bill in Bipartisan FY 2026 Minibus
Highlights
- The bipartisan appropriations minibus passed by the House of Representatives last week includes the Labor-Health and Human Services (Labor-HHS) bill, which incorporates a broad slate of healthcare extender provisions that include securing primary care and workforce pipelines, extending disease programs, and updating public health and transplantation authorities.
- Passage in the U.S. Senate will require 60 votes; the principal risk to timing and outcome stems from unrelated political disputes tied to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations, not the substance of the Labor-HHS health provisions.
- Key extenders include full-year fiscal year (FY) 2026 funding for Community Health Centers (CHCs); National Health Service Corps (NHSC) extensions and Teaching Health Centers (THCs) Graduate Medical Education (GME) through FY 2029; and sustained funding for disease-specific research initiatives.
Last week, the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations unveiled a bipartisan minibus packaging the final four FY 2026 spending bills: Defense, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development. The Labor-HHS bill extends an array of time-limited policies and funding authorities. The House passed the measure on Jan. 22, 2026, then packaged the four spending bills with two others it passed the week before and sent that engrossed bill to the Senate. The healthcare provisions have broad bipartisan support. But Senate passage of the package requires a level of Democratic support that is currently being withheld pending resolution of issues relating to the DHS appropriations.
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