Legislative Update - February, 2010

FY 2011 President’s Budget

President Obama released his budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 on February 1st, days after announcing his plan to freeze spending levels on the majority of domestic programs. Despite the flat lining of most programs within the FY 11 Health and Human Services budget, $579 million is provided for the section 317 program at CDC, an increase of $17 million. The agency justifies the increase "to build on the gains made with FY 2009 Recovery Act funds to increase vaccination coverage and to support States in obtaining reimbursement of immunization services provided to children with private health insurance." This increase is comprised of three main components — $3 million is attributed to program operations, while the remaining $14 million comes from the net difference between a $27 million increase in vaccine purchase grants for obtaining a greater number of vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to reduce vaccine-preventable diseases, and a $13 million cut to state infrastructure. The below chart reflects a breakdown in funding for the program



FY 2010 Omnibus

On December 16th, President Obama signed the FY 2010 omnibus appropriations bill, which included six spending measures including that for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor HHS) agencies. The Labor HHS portion of the package reflects an $11 billion increase over FY 2009 levels, bringing total discretionary spending up to $163.6 billion.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received an approximate total of $6.6 billion. Of that total, $559 million is appropriated for the section 317 Immunization Program. Because of the substantial increases for health related activities within ARRA, most programs within the FY 2010 Labor HHS bill saw few large funding boosts. And with stimulus funds for the 317 Program being spent out over the course of 2009 and 2010, with some program operations funding even extending into 2011, there was little opportunity for an additional increase. As a result, the 317 Program received an increase of $1 million, which will be used for additional research regarding vaccine safety.