Policy Corner: October 22, 2021

Senate Appropriations Committee Releases Spending Bills

The Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) released recommendations for the remaining nine fiscal year 2022 appropriations bills, including the Labor-Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies spending bill. The recommendations for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services includes increased funding for programs that the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) supports including:

• An additional $2 million for the Administration for Community Living’s (ACL) Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) program, which is less than the House bill (+$4 million), but $1.4 million more than the president’s budget request.
• An additional $100,000 increase for the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Model Systems National Data and Statistical Center (NDSC), funded by the ACL National Institute on Disability Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).
• An additional $6 million to NIDILRR to increase annual grant funding to competitively funded model systems centers, including the $100,000 increase for the NDSC. This is less than the House bill, which recommended +$11.8 million for FY2022 funding for NIDILRR.
• $1 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Injury Center to implement a national concussion surveillance program, which is less than the House bill (+$2 million). This is new funding for the program which was authorized by the Traumatic Brain Injury Program Reauthorization Act of 2018.

In addition, the bill includes $2.4 billion for the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, proposed by President Biden to accelerate the pace of breakthroughs in medicine. The bill also provides $640 million for the BRAIN Initiative, an increase of $80 million. Budget language was included encouraging “CDC to explore methodologies, research and data collection strategies to collect public health data and information regarding people with disabilities that is in compliance with federal and state privacy and anti-discrimination laws and regulations.”

The spending bills will need to be considered by the full Senate, then will go to a conference committee with House members. As the current resolution funding government expires Dec. 3, Congress needs to pass all 12 appropriations bills by then or pass another measure to continue funding for federal government and programs.

BIAA gratefully acknowledges the Centre for Neuro Skills and Avanir Pharmaceuticals for their support for legislative action. Click here to read past issues of Policy Corner.