On Sept. 26 President Biden signed a federal budget extension known as a Continuing Resolution (CR) that will maintain federal spending at current levels for nearly all government agencies through Dec. 20. As part of the congressional deal signed by the president, the Secret Service received an additional $231 million to increase protections in response to recent assassination attempts on former President Trump and improve other key operations of the agency.
Without the CR, several federal agencies would have seen their operations shut down on Sept. 30 when the federal fiscal year ends, but now all agencies will be fully funded until Dec. 20. However, it leaves a final 2024–25 congressional budget package hanging until after the election where policymakers during a “lame duck session” will need to develop final appropriation bills for all federal agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services before the Dec. 20 deadline, or another CR will need to pass to keep the federal government operating past that date.
In the meantime, agencies such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) that are responsible for federal behavioral health programs such as the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) will continue to operate based on current funding formula levels contained in the 2023–24 federal budget.
In addition, the CR extends several expiring health-related programs and authorities including:
- various programs related to veterans, including extending a pilot program to provide veterans with access to alternative mental health therapies, and another program for addressing the treatment needs of homeless veterans with serious mental illnesses, until Sept. 30, 2025.
- funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which helps lower-income families with children meet basic needs through cash payments administered by the states, for the remainder of the CR.
- funding for several federal agencies to implement the No Surprises Act, which protects patients from unexpected health care bills for certain services, through Sept. 30, 2025.
- improvements under the Medicare fee-for-service program that could include adjusting the amounts that Medicare pays to providers ($3.1 billion during and after FY 2026).
See the link below for a complete list of federal program extensions.
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/fy25_section_by_section1.pdf
NBCC will be closely monitoring the federal budget negotiations throughout the last quarter of 2024 and advocating for important mental health provisions and funding such as telemental health services, increased access to care under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and the Minority Fellowship Program.
