Amid Cost-of-Living Crisis, House Republicans Jeopardize Health Care Coverage for Millions of Americans

Latest Funding Bill Abandons the Working Class, the Middle Class, and the Vulnerable and Eliminates Funding for Reproductive Health

WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Republicans today released the draft fiscal year 2027 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies funding bill, which will be considered in subcommittee tomorrow. The legislation is an assault on education and job training, puts health coverage for millions of Americans at risk, and abandons ongoing public health crises.

For 2027, the bill provides $201.8 billion, a cut of $19.1 billion – 9 percent – below 2026. The legislation:

• Puts health care coverage for millions of Americans in jeopardy by cancelling $2 billion for operating Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance plans, threatening the ACA health insurance Marketplace.
• Abandons college students and low-income workers trying to improve their lives through postsecondary education by increasing interest rates for 5 million college student borrowers, cutting funding for need-based financial aid, and eliminating job training programs.
• Decimates support for children in K-12 elementary schools by slashing funding for low-income students, eliminating funding for teacher training, and eliminating funding for community schools.
• Slashes research for maternal health, telehealth, and patient safety in hospitals and health clinics by eliminating funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and terminating nearly $1 billion from the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (PCORTF).
• Harms women’s health by cutting programs that support maternal and child health, eliminating programs that provide access to contraception and health services, and adding numerous partisan and poison pill riders related to abortion and reproductive health.
• Surrenders to ongoing health crises by making major cuts to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, and reducing funding for mental health services and substance use prevention and treatment.

“As American families struggle to keep up with rapidly rising costs, the Republican plan would make matters worse. Everything from childcare to healthcare has gotten more expensive, and the Republicans’ 2027 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education funding bill would gut programs that families depend on to make ends meet,” Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “This bill threatens access to health care coverage for millions of Americans by canceling $2 billion for Affordable Care Act marketplace operations. It sets future generations up for failure by defunding the Department of Education by $8 billion, kicking 30,000 teachers out of classrooms. And it continues to weaken our public health system by cutting CDC funding by $1 billion.”

“This economy is only working for the wealthy and well-connected. Instead of leveling the playing field and extending opportunities to every American willing to work for them, this bill slashes funding for the Job Corps in half, while eliminating funding for adult and youth job training programs entirely,” Ranking Member DeLauro continued. “This bill continues the Republicans’ war on women’s health. It blocks funding for Planned Parenthood health centers, eliminates funding for Title X Family Planning, Healthy Start, and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. With every page you turn in this legislation, you find another way Republicans are pushing a decent-wage job, a quality education, or an affordable health insurance plan further out of reach.” 

A summary of House Republicans’ 2027 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies funding bill is here. A fact sheet is here. The text of the bill is here. The subcommittee markup will be webcast live and linked on the House Committee on Appropriations website.

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