Contact: Shana Stribling 202.224.0309
Wednesday, September 15, 2004

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Kit Bond today announced that he and Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) secured the largest increase in federal funding for Community Health Centers in program history in the Labor-HHS spending bill. The bill also includes full funding for the second consecutive year for our nation’s children’s hospitals.

"Our health centers and children's hospitals are vital to ensuring that our children and families' health care needs are met," said Senator Bond. "This increase in funding for these important programs are a real commitment to the long-term health of our nation.

As a senior Senator on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Bond and Hollings secured a $250 million increase for the Community Health Centers program in the fiscal year 2005 Senate Labor-HHS spending bill, which passed the Committee this afternoon, the largest increase in federal funding in the program' s history. Before being signed into law the bill must be passed by the full U.S. Senate and reconciled with the House of Representatives' bill.

Senator Bond has worked with community health centers to expand access to high-quality care since serving as Governor. Inspired by the success of the health centers in Missouri, Senator Bond joined Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina and began a National Health Center Expansion Initiative in 2000 to double the number of patients served by health centers by 2006. Since this initiative began, federal funding for health centers has increased by $599 million— a 58 percent increase. Today's success brings the total funding increase to $848 million – an 83 percent increase, bringing Senator Bond close to his goal.

"The Senate has once again shown its broad support for the Health Centers program, and we thank Senator Bond for leading the way,” said Dan Hawkins, NACHC’s Vice-President for Policy. “Senator Bond has long championed the expansion of our program and has truly outdone even himself this year. This increase will ensure that health centers can expand to medically underserved communities where affordable and accessible health care is needed, serve new patients, and cover the rising cost of health care at existing facilities. We are grateful for all his efforts on behalf of the underserved in the country today.”

The Labor-HHS bill also includes funding for another of Bond's priorities, children's hospitals. Senator Bond introduced legislation creating a children's hospitals Graduate Medical Education (GME) discretionary grant program. The Children’s Hospitals Education and Research Act of 1999 ensured that children’s hospitals could sustain their teaching programs, important not only to the future of these children's hospitals and their essential services but also to the future of the pediatric workforce and pediatric research. The children's hospitals GME program was added by Senator Bond to the Healthcare Research and Quality Act and has been authorized through 2005. Senator Bond has led the fight to fund this program in the Senate. Thanks to his efforts, full funding has been achieved in only 4 short years. Kansas City Children’s Mercy hospital has received almost $19 million new federal dollars over the last four years. St. Louis Children’s Hospital has received $22 million new federal dollars over the last 4 years.

Larry McAndrews, the CEO of the National Association of Children's Hospitals said, “Children’s hospitals across the country owe Senator Bond a debt of gratitude for his leadership in both authorizing and funding this important program. Equitable federal funding for teaching programs in children’s hospitals ensures that our children will have the doctors and services they need."