Article highlights:
- The Biden administration this past Friday released a letter outlining President Joe Biden's request for fiscal year 2022 discretionary funding in advance of Congress's annual appropriations and budget process. The letter, addressed to Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, along with several other top federal lawmakers, includes a range of proposals that reflect Biden's broader agenda.
- The request includes several items aimed at improving the nation's digital health response, including $8.7 billion to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That additional funding would go toward modernizing public health data collection nationwide, in addition to supporting core public health capacity improvements in states and territories, training new epidemiologists and other public health experts, and building international capacity to detect, prepare for and respond to emerging global threats, according to the letter.
- In addition, $153 million would go toward CDC's Social Determinants of Health Program to support states and territories in improving health equity and data collection for vulnerable populations. The request also includes a $6.5 billion investment to launch the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, aimed at driving transformational innovation in health research and speeding implementation of health breakthroughs. In addition, the request would provide $65 million over the 2021 enacted level for the Rural e-Connectivity Program "reconnect" for rural broadband.
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