Calling on Congress to complete the appropriations process

On January 7, 2024, APA Services joined the Coalition for Health Funding and the NDD United, consisting of more than 1,100 organizations, in a letter to congressional leadershipopens in new window urging the completion of the fiscal year (FY) 2024 appropriations using the bipartisan Senate appropriations bills as the starting point. The letter asks Congress to reject cuts to nondefense discretionary spending and stresses the need to honor the agreement Congress made with the White House last June to lift the debt ceiling.

The community letter emphasized that “vital domestic and international appropriations are a small part of the federal budget…yet they fund a wide range of important programs and services that make America run and strengthen our economy.” These include scientific and medical research, K-12 education and skills training, financial aid for college students, services for victims of gender-based violence, public health programs, and programs key to psychology and mental health. Further, the letter also urges that “dangerous poison pill” policy riders, which bar federal agencies from using funds for certain activities, be excluded from the process.

Also on January 7, Congressional leaders announced they had reached a bipartisan agreement on the topline spending levels for FY 2024. The agreement is just the first step toward completing the FY 2024 appropriations. Congressional appropriators must now draft and negotiate funding levels for the 12 individual spending bills based on the agreed-upon levels in the bipartisan framework. Congress is currently working with two deadlines: January 19, 2024, for the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Energy, Veterans Affairs, and Agriculture bills; and February 2, 2024, for the remaining eight bills, including the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education bill and the Department of Defense bill. Bipartisan efforts will be required to prevent a disruptive government shutdown.

In December 2023, more than 150 psychologists and psychology advocates met with Congress as part of the APA Services Virtual Advocacy Summit—Federal Funding Matters: Calling on Congress to Fund Programs Key to Psychology and Mental Health. Participants met with Congressional representatives to urge them to increase funding in FY 2024 to support critical programs, including the psychology workforce training, school- and campus-based mental health, psychological research, and suicide prevention.

For more information, contact Angela L. Sharpe.