WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today highlighted several provisions that she pushed for in the recent budget deal signed in to law that will benefit North Dakota, including wins for rural health care, North Dakota’s military installations, and Indian Country – many of which Heitkamp pushed for.

“The budget agreement was a bipartisan compromise that advanced many priorities I pushed for to improve the lives of North Dakotans, especially those who face challenges accessing health care in our rural communities,” Heitkamp said. “After I fought to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program that supports children across our state, this deal extends funding even further through 2028, and Community Health Center funding also receives a boost to enable critical health facilities in rural towns to operate. Making sure those in rural communities can access quality, affordable health care is a must, and, and as a co-chair of the bipartisan Rural Health Caucus, I’m working to elevate these issues in Congress. Every day I come to work in the U.S. Senate, I’m fighting for rural America, and every individual and family across our states deserves reliable health care.

“The agreement also supports our veterans by funding VA hospital and clinic construction. And it extends the Indian Employment Tax Credit to support economic opportunity in Indian Country. In these partisan times, these are important bipartisan wins for North Dakota that I’m proud to have fought for.”

In addition to rural health and other provisions Heitkamp fought for, the budget deal included Heitkamp’s bipartisan plan to support North Dakota energy sources like coal and natural gas by encouraging innovation in carbon capture utilization and storage technology. Heitkamp’s plan to expand assistance available to farmers, ranchers, and honey bee producers impacted by disasters like drought was also included in the deal.

Other provisions in the budget deal which Heitkamp pushed for that benefit North Dakota include: 

Health care:

• Supporting Community Health Centers. Heitkamp pushed for a two year extension of federal funding for Community Health Centers, the National Health Service Corps, and the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program, which focuses on increasing the primary care workforce, particularly in rural and underserved areas. Heitkamp, co-chair of the bipartisan Rural Health Caucus, recently pushed to reauthorize funding for community health centers and has been fighting to improve access to health care in rural areas.

• Further extending the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The deal includes an additional four year authorization of CHIP – which Heitkamp advocated for –  bringing the total authorization to 10 years. Millions of children around the country rely on CHIP for affordable health care, including more than 2,000 kids in North Dakota. After Congress failed to reauthorize CHIP funding last year, Heitkamp helped negotiate a bipartisan deal that reauthorized the program for six years. Last year, Heitkamp was honored for her work to help make sure families and children with special needs and disabilities can access health care services – including CHIP – to stay healthy and safe.

 

• Repealing cap on occupational therapy. Heitkamp pushed to include in the deal a bill she and U.S. Senator John Thune introduced in January 2017 to permanently repeal of the Medicare Therapy Cap to preserve access to occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy for those in need. The cap jeopardized access to therapy services, particularly for seniors in rural areas where there are fewer practicing physicians. According to the Medicare Policy Advisory Committee (MedPAC), about 20 percent of beneficiaries receiving outpatient therapy would have their therapy truncated at the cap. And according to Kaiser Family Foundation, there were nearly 119,000 Medicare beneficiaries in North Dakota.

 

• Extension of home health support for rural communities. The deal includes a five year extension of Medicare home health and rural ambulance add-on payments which are critical to our rural health care providers. Heitkamp urged Senate leadership to extend these and other rural health policies last September and in this budget deal. This extension helps rural health facilities keep their doors open and preserve critical ambulance service and other services.

• Continues program that supports at-risk pregnant women and parents. Heitkamp pushed to include a five year reauthorization of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, which supports home visiting services for at-risk pregnant women and parents with young children. Heitkamp introduced bipartisan legislation with U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) to protect expecting North Dakota mothers and reduce the rate of maternal deaths in the U.S., especially in Indian Country. Across the country, maternal mortality rates increased by an alarming 26 percent from 2000 to 2014 alone.

• Support low-income children. Heitkamp advocated to include in the deal a provision known as the Family First Prevention Services Act, which provides much-needed updates to our system to support children, strengthens families, and invests in prevention to reduce the need for foster care. Heitkamp as long pushed for policies to help children and families overcome experiences like trauma that can have an impact on a child’s development, and introduced comprehensive legislation to provide a more trauma-informed supportive of law enforcement, health service, and workforce network that children and families need for healthy growth and development. Heitkamp has also introduced legislation to support children in foster homes and the families that care for them by encouraging more Americans to offer safe loving homes for foster children. According to the North Dakota Department of Human Services, there were 2,183 children in foster care in 2014.

• Extend diabetes support program for Native Americans. A two year extension of the Special Diabetes Program for Type I Diabetes and Special Diabetes Program for Indians. Heitkamp has pushed Senate leadership to strongly support these programs. According to Indian Health Service, Native Americans are 2.4 times more likely to develop diabetes than their white counterparts. In addition to hearing from passionate local advocates in North Dakota, these programs have strong support from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the National Indian Health Board.’

• Repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board. Repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a panel created in the health reform law but proved to be ineffective. Heitkamp supported legislation to repeal the board. Health groups and advocates overwhelming supported the repeal of this policy, including the North Dakota Medical Association, North Dakota Podiatric Medical Association, and National Alliance on Mental Illness – North Dakota chapter.

Defense:

• Support veterans health care. $4 billion to rebuild and improve VA hospitals and clinics. Heitkamp has urged the administration to provide ample resources to care for our veterans in its budget, has pushed for funding to support facilities for veterans in North Dakota, and last helped pass into law a bipartisan bill she introduced make sure veterans can get care closer to home.

• Boost military funds. $80 billion Fiscal Year 2018 defense increase, and $85 billion Fiscal Year 2019 defense increase. Heitkamp has long fought to strongly support our military to keep our nation secure and support North Dakota defense priorities and jobs.

Indian Affairs:

• Extend the Indian Employment Tax Credit. Heitkamp supported the Tribal Economic Assistance Act, legislation to make the tax credit permanent.

• Extend the production credit for Indian coal facilities. Heitkamp has consistently supported legislation to permanently extend the tax credit. 

 

###