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Bipartisan Senate Group Urges Leadership to Pass Critical Legislation before Nov. 21 Deadline
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today joined a bipartisan effort to ensure long-term funding for community health centers, calling for immediate consideration of legislation to extend funding authorization that will expire in November.
Wicker and Hyde-Smith are among 27 Senators who signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) seeking passage of the Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence or “CHIME” Act (S.106). The bill would reauthorize the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF) and the National Health Service Corps for five years. Authorization for these programs expires on Nov. 21, 2019.
“Community health centers provide affordable health care to our nation’s most vulnerable citizens,” the Senators wrote. “We look forward to working with you to reach a bipartisan agreement to enact this legislation and ensure our community health centers continue to provide high quality and affordable care to those in need.”
“If the CHCF expires, community health centers will lose seventy percent of their federal grant funding. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, this would cause an estimated 2,400 site closures, 47,000 lost jobs, and threaten the health care of approximately 9 million Americans,” the letter warns. “Some centers will soon have to take steps in anticipation of a funding lapse, including reducing staff and operating hours, cancelling capital projects, or even preparing to close their doors.”
Wicker and Hyde-Smith are original cosponsors of the CHIME Act.
The Community Health Care Center Association of Mississippi indicates there are community health facilities in 73 of Mississippi’s 82 counties.
Read a copy of the signed letter here.
