Contact: press@baldwin.senate.gov
(202) 224 – 6225
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin joined a bipartisan group of 70 Senators in calling for immediate action to extend critical funding for community health centers before funding runs out at the end of this month. In a letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chairman and Ranking Member, the Senators expressed their strong support for community health centers, which provide access to cost-effective primary and preventive care for families across the country.
“Without extension of the CHCF, community health centers will lose seventy percent of their funding,” wrote the Senators. “This will result in an estimated 2,800 site closures, the loss of 50,000 jobs, and result in 9 million Americans losing their access to care…We are already hearing of the disruptive effects of the uncertainty created by the impending funding cliff on health center operations—this disruption will increase significantly without an extension of funding by September 30.”
Community health centers operate in both rural and urban areas, in every state in the nation, and are an important health care provider. Last year, health centers were the medical home for one in twelve Americans, one in ten children, one in six Americans living in rural areas, and more than 330,000 of our nation’s veterans.
The letter was led by Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Roy Blunt (D-MO) and in addition to Baldwin was signed by Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), John Boozman (R-AR), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Tom Carper (D-DE), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Dean Heller (R-NV), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Rob Portman (R-OH), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Bill Nelson (D-FL), John Barrasso (D-WY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Deb Fisher (R-NE), Jon Tester (D-MT), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), David Perdue (R-GA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jim Risch (R-ID), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tom Udall (D-NM), Angus King (I-ME), Gary Peters (D-MI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jack Reed (D-RI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV), Cory Booker (D-NJ), John Hoeven (R-ND), Jeff Merkley (D-WA), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Tim Kaine (D-VA), John Kennedy (R-LA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Bob Casey (D-PA), James Lankford (R-OK), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Al Franken (D-MN), Mark Warner (D-VA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
A copy of the letter is available here and below.
