The House Appropriations Committee approved the draft fiscal year 2016 budget for HHS, which would terminate the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Here are four things to know:
1. The bill includes a total of $71.3 billion forHHS, an increase of $298 million above last year's level and $3.9 billion below the President's budget request, according to a statement.
2. Included in Sec. 226 (a), is the termination of AHRQ, effective October 1, 2015.
3. Any unobligated balances to AHRQ would be rescinded.
4. Activities carried out by the AHRQ could be carried out by different agencies, such as NIH for biomedical research and the CDC for disease control and prevention activities.
"The funding in this bill is targeted to programs that are proven to produce results," House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers said. "In addition, great efforts were made to ensure none of the funding in the bill is spent wastefully or inappropriately. This includes terminating unnecessary programs, trimming back lower-priority areas, and preventing tax dollars from going toward extreme, intrusive regulations that have a net negative effect on this nation."
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