On Sept. 13, House and Senate negotiators reached a deal on an appropriations "minibus" bill, which includes funding for the Department of Defense and the Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) spending bill for fiscal year 2019. This bill reconciles the House Committee-reported and Senate-passed versions of the LHHS funding bill.

The LHHS bill provides a $2 billion increase to the National Institutes of Health budget, a $3.4 billion increase for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a $2.2 billion increase for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and a $140 million increase for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention.

This spending package also includes a short-term continuing resolution, which will provide continued funding to keep the federal government operating through Dec. 7, until all outstanding appropriations funding bills can be signed into law. The stopgap measure will likely fund the Departments of Homeland Security, State, Commerce and Justice, as these spending bills have not yet been reported out of each chamber's appropriations committee. A three-bill spending package to fund the Departments of Energy and Veterans Affairs, the Army Corps of Engineers and the operations of Congress was approved by the House of Representatives on Sept. 13 and awaits the President's signature. The future passage of a four-bill minibus that includes the Agriculture, Financial Services, Interior-Environment and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development spending bills is uncertain.

If signed into law, the LHHS spending bill will be completed before the end of the fiscal year for the first time in 22 years. House and Senate appropriators have made efforts to return to "regular order" this year by attempting to complete all 12 funding bills through the normal legislative process. The Senate, in a sweeping 93-7 vote, passed the Defense and LHHS package on Sept. 18. The House will vote when it returns from recess the week of Sept. 24. ACC Advocacy staff will continue to communicate further developments as they become available. The following is a full breakdown of ACC's funding priorities from the 2017 enacted funding levels to the 2019 proposals:

Program	FY17 Enacted	FY18 Omnibus Enacted	FY19 ACC Request	FY19 Conference
NIH (National Institutes of Health)	$34 billion	$37 billion	$38 billion	$39 billion
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)	$3.2 billion	$3.383 billion	$3.5 billion	$3.4 billion
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)	$1.784 billion	$2.1 billion	$2 billion	$2.2 billion
CDC Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention	$130 million	$140 million	$160 million	$140 million
CDC Million Hearts	$4 million	$4 million	$5 million	$4 million
CDC WISEWOMAN	$21.12 million	$21.12 million	$37 million	$21.12 million
CDC Office on Smoking and Health	$205 million	$210 million	$216.5 million	$210 million
CDC Congenital Heart Disease Research	$4 million	$4 million	$7 million	$4 million

Clinical Topics: Cardiovascular Care Team, Prevention, Smoking

Keywords: ACC Advocacy, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (U.S.), Federal Government, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (U.S.), Veterans, National Institutes of Health (U.S.), Budgets, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S., Heart Diseases, Smoking, Stroke

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