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Letter to the Hon. Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, and the Hon. Nancy Pelosi - Support Community Health Centers

Letter

By: Peter DeFazio, Chellie Pingree, Marcy Kaptur, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Maxine Waters, Vicky Hartzler, Hank Johnson, Jr., Gwen Moore, Nydia Velázquez, José Serrano, Stephen Lynch, Tim Walz, Albio Sires, Steve Cohen, Dutch Ruppersberger, Frank LoBiondo, John Sarbanes, Don Payne, Jr., John Yarmuth, Scott Tipton, Jimmy Panetta, David Scott, Ted Lieu, Colleen Hanabusa, Joe Kennedy III, Pramila Jayapal, Ruben Kihuen, Jamie Raskin, Jim McGovern, Ro Khanna, Tim Ryan, Susan Davis, Bill Foster, Robin Kelly, Beto O'Rourke, Jared Huffman, Seth Moulton, Mark Pocan, Katherine Clark, Andy Barr, Ami Bera, Brad Schneider, Derek Kilmer, Carol Shea-Porter, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Dan Donovan, Jr., Jared Polis, Tom O'Halleran, Niki Tsongas, Elise Stefanik, Joe Courtney, David Young, G. K. Butterfield, Jr., Jim Langevin, Jim Costa, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Jerry Nadler, David Price, Rick Larsen, André Carson, Eleanor Norton, Danny Davis, Bobby Rush, Collin Peterson, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Gregory Meeks, Gerry Connolly, Karen Bass, David Cicilline, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Adam Smith, Jerry McNerney, Barbara Lee, Carolyn Maloney, Peter Welch, Dan Lipinski, Blake Farenthold, Bill Keating, Nita Lowey, Rick Nolan, Adam Schiff, Sanford Bishop, Jr., Luis Gutiérrez, Kurt Schrader, Steve Pearce, Frederica Wilson, Eddie Johnson, Paul Tonko, John Garamendi, Michael Coffman, Randy Hultgren, Jackie Speier, Michelle Lujan Grisham, Louise Slaughter, Alan Lowenthal, Annie Kuster, Alma Adams, Elizabeth Esty, Val Demings, Jacky Rosen, Doug LaMalfa, Suzanne Bonamici, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Sean Maloney, Claudia Tenney, Cheri Bustos, Julia Brownley, Steve Knight, Lois Frankel, Earl Blumenauer, Brendan Boyle, Zoe Lofgren, Jim Himes, Raul Ruiz, Nanette Barragán, Ed Perlmutter, John Larson, Lee Zeldin, Marc Veasey, Donald Norcross, Grace Napolitano, John Katko, Adriano Espaillat, John Delaney, Norma Torres, Kristi Noem, Mike Quigley, Mark DeSaulnier, Eric Swalwell, Salud Carbajal, Joshua Gottheimer, Thomas Suozzi, Pete King, Charlie Crist, Jr., Filemon Vela, Jr., Dwight Evans, Mike Gallagher, Dave Joyce, Brenda Lawrence, Pete Aguilar, Mike Capuano, Greg Gianforte, Kathleen Rice, Mark Takano, Raul Grijalva, Ron Kind, Juan Vargas, John Faso, Kyrsten Sinema, David Valadao, Rodney Davis
Date: Oct. 30, 2017
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Health and Health Care

Dear Speaker Ryan and Leader Pelosi,

We write to express our serious concerns over the expiration of the Community Health Centers Fund (CHCF) program. We understand that community health centers across the country are already facing disruptions as a result of going over the so-called "funding cliff" at the end of September, and we urge you to work with Republicans and Democrats in a bipartisan manner to reauthorize this critical program for five years.

Community health centers across the United States have delivered affordable, accessible, and quality primary health care to patients, regardless of their ability to pay, for more than 50 years. They serve more than 27 million individuals in almost 10,000 urban and rural communities by caring for the whole person, bringing together medical and behavioral health with pharmacy services. They also serve our nation's veterans, providing care to over 330,000 veterans last year alone.

The CHCF accounts for 70% of community health centers' federal grant funding and without knowing when this funding will be renewed, community health centers are already unfortunately considering or taking steps to reduce their services, jeopardizing the care of some of our nation's most vulnerable citizens. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has estimated that without funding in 2018, approximately 2,800 health center sites would close, costing more than 50,000 jobs and endangering the health care of about 9 million patients.

The Community Health Center program has long enjoyed bipartisan support. We encourage you to work together to reach a bipartisan agreement on a five-year reauthorization that we all can endorse. Thank you for your efforts to ensure this vital program is funded so community health centers can continue to provide care to those who need it most.


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