Government Healthcare Policy, Business and Technology

Senate HELP Committee Approves Last of 21st Century Cures Companion Bills, but NIH Funding Remains an Issue

Healthcare Informatics: The U.S. Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee approved the last of 19 bipartisan pieces of legislation that will become the Senate companion to the 21st Century Cures Act on Wednesday, April 6, meaning full Senate consideration of legislation could be soon on the way.

Indeed, Senate HELP Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said he is working to soon put the committee’s bipartisan proposals—along with a bipartisan agreement on National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding—into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) hands, making possible full Senate consideration of legislation to help “virtually every American.” Finding a way to pay for new mandatory funding for medical research at NIH, which Democrats in the Senate support, has been an obstacle.

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