Underwood Successfully Secures Resources for Fourteenth Priorities in Second Appropriation Package

WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14) announced her successful efforts to deliver on important priorities for the Fourteenth District of Illinois including protecting the Affordable Care Act (ACA), funding groundbreaking science at Fermilab, and funding gun violence research in federal appropriations legislation. The legislation passed as a part of the second House appropriations package for Fiscal Year 2021, H.R. 7617, which passed the House on July 31. The package includes Underwood's legislation, which passed the House with bipartisan support, to prevent the Department of Justice (DOJ) from spending federal funds on litigation that undermines the Affordable Care Act. Key priorities championed by Underwood also include over $13 billion for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, which funds National Laboratories including Fermilab, and $55 million for gun violence research, which until she joined Congress last year had not been funded in more than two decades.

"When we make smart federal investments, we invest in families, our economy, and the future of our communities. Over the last several months, I've worked with local organizations, community members, non-profits, and local officials to ensure the voices and needs of the Fourteenth District are reflected in federal funding bills," said Underwood. "I'm pleased to see many critical investments for northern Illinois communities pass the House, and I will continue to work with the Senate to see each priority passed into law."

H.R. 7617 totals $1.3 trillion in discretionary funding and consists of six Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations bills: Defense, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy and Water Development, Financial Service and General Government, Labor-HHS-Education, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development.

H.R. 7617 additionally includes the following federal investments to help Fourteenth District communities.

Health Care

• Includes Underwood legislation to prevent the Department of Justice (DOJ) from spending federal funds on litigation that undermines the Affordable Care Act
• Provides $47 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an increase of $5.5 billion over last year's enacted level.
• Provides $55 million for dedicated gun violence research at NIH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an increase of $25 million over last year's enacted level.
• Provides $130.5 million for the Healthy Start Program, an increase of $5 million over last year's enacted level.
• Includes language to override the Administration's gag order and restore grant eligibility to Planned Parenthood and other health clinics that offer the full range of reproductive health services.
• Provides robust funding for CDC public health emergency preparedness initiatives, workforce investments, data infrastructure modernization efforts, and substance misuse and overdose prevention programs.
• Provides more than $2.2 billion for programs through the Administration for Community Living to support older adults and disabled Americans.
• Provides $185 million for the Family Violence Prevention and Services Program, a $10 million increase over last year's enacted level.

Coronavirus

• Includes language to ensure that existing infant and maternal health surveillance programs like the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System and Surveillance for Emerging Threats to Mothers and Babies Program have been adapted to evaluate the risks for and effects of COVID– 19 on infants and pregnant and lactating individuals.
• Includes directives to ensure that specific steps are being taken to include pregnancy status in COVID–19 data collection, documentation, and reporting from health care providers to public health agencies, particularly at the time of the initial or first report.
• Includes directives to ensure that there is racially, ethnically, and geographically diverse participation in studies conducted to understand the effects of COVID–19 on pregnant and lactating individuals.
• Includes directives for NIH to establish a comprehensive COVID-19 pediatric research agenda.
• Provides $5 billion to deposit in a permanent Public Health Emergency Fund to ensure HHS is able to respond quickly and aggressively to a broad range of public health threats and protect the American people.
• Provides $4.5 billion to Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to support advanced research and development, advanced manufacturing of vaccines and therapeutics, innovation in antibacterial research and development, and U.S.-based next-generation vaccine manufacturing facility enhancements.

Education and Job Training

• Provides $73.5 billion for the Department of Education, $6.9 billion above the President's request.
• Provides $5.9 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant program and $10.8 billion for Head Start.
• Provides $10.2 billion for the Employment and Training Administration, $1.5 billion above the Administration's request.
• Blocks the enforcement of the Administration's rule that would divert CARES Act funds intended for public schools to private schools.

Strong Communities

• Provides $3.5 billion for Community Development Block Grants, rejecting the President's proposal to eliminate the program.
• Provides $356 million for the Economic Development Administration, helping boost struggling communities.
• Provides $273.5 million for Community Development Financial Institutions, rejecting the Administration's proposal to eliminate the program.
• Provides $277 million for Small Business Administration Entrepreneurial Development Programs, $109 million above the President's budget request.

Public Safety and Police Reform

• Provides $525 million for grant programs to prevent and respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
• Provides $25 million to improve the National Instant Background Check System to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands.
• Provides $49 million for grants to reduce the backlog of untested sexual assault kits.
• Implements key components of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, with $400 million provided for police reform initiatives such as pattern and practice investigations.
• Conditions federal grant funding for state and local law enforcement on eliminating the use of chokeholds and other forms of excessive force, no-knock warrants in drug cases, and racial profiling.

Service members and military families

• Provides full funding necessary to support the 3 percent military pay raise.
• Provides more than $33.3 billion for Defense Health Programs, including $512.5 million for cancer research.
• Provides $323 million for the Department and Services' Sexual Assault Prevention and Response programs, an increase of $45 million above the President's request.

Climate Change and Science

• Provides over $10.6 billion for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to accelerate the development and implementation of affordable, sustainable, and secure energy technologies.
• Provides $15 million for the CDC's Climate and Health Program, a $5 million increase over last year's enacted level, to support state and local efforts to plan for public health threats caused by climate change.
• Provides $5.45 billion for NOAA, helping address important priorities such as climate research and forecasting of extreme weather events.
• Provides $435 million for research to address the nation's environmental and energy security challenges, rejecting the President's proposal to eliminate the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E).
• Provides over $13 billion for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, which funds National Laboratories like Fermilab.
• Provides $641 million to construct the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility for the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) led by Fermilab in collaboration with over 1,000 scientists around the world.
• Provides over $284 million to upgrade Fermilab's particle accelerator and enable high-intensity proton beams for experiments like DUNE.

Maternal Mortality

• Provides $980 million in funding to support Maternal and Child Health Programs, a $37 million increase from last year's enacted level.
• Provides $68 million in funding for Safe Motherhood and Infant Health programs, a $10 million increase from last year's enacted level, to address disparities in maternal health outcomes, including $22 million for Maternal Mortality Review Committees and other state-level data collection initiatives.
• Provides $1.57 billion for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), with a focus on research into the leading causes of maternal morbidity and mortality, and racial and ethnic disparities in maternal health outcomes.
• Provides support for the NIH IMPROVE (Implementing a Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone) Initiative, which will use an integrated approach to understand biological, behavioral, sociocultural, and structural factors that affect severe maternal mortality and maternal mortality (SMM/MM) by building an evidence base for improved care and outcomes in specific regions of the country.

Infrastructure

• Provides $61 billion in emergency funding to expand the availability of broadband to unserved and underserved areas.
• Provides $107.2 billion in total budgetary resources for the Department of Transportation, $19.4 billion above the Administration's request.
• Provides $7.6 billion for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including studies, construction, and operation & maintenance.
• Provides $75 billion in emergency funding to rebuild our nation's transportation and housing infrastructure.
• Provides $376.1 million for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), including funding to implement new broadband mapping legislation.
• Provides $43.5 billion in emergency spending modernize water and energy infrastructure.

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