On October 4, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved, 28-23, the Community Health and Medical Professionals Improve Our Nation (CHAMPION) Act (H.R. 3922), as amended.
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), would extend federal funding for several programs, including the Community Health Centers, Family-to-Family Health Information Centers, Youth Empowerment, and Personal Responsibility Education (PREP) programs.
The legislation would authorize annually $3.6 billion for FY2018 and 2019 for community health centers, $6 million during that period for the Family-to-Family program, $75 million for the Youth Empowerment programs, and $75 million for PREP.
Currently, the Youth Empowerment Program implements programs that focus exclusively on sexual risk avoidance for teens. Among other provisions of H.R. 3922, the program would address sexual coercion and dating violence among adolescents. PREP currently provides grants to support abstinence education for adolescents; the bill would amend the program to also address the needs of victims of human trafficking.
The bill would cut funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund – established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148), also known as the ACA or Obamacare – by $6.35 billion over ten years.
