Each year, Congress must approve discretionary funding for Community Health Centers, which makes up 30% of all health centers’ federal funding. To demonstrate support, we ask every U.S. representative to sign a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, specifically addressed to Chairman Bob Aderholt (R-AL) and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). This letter calls for robust discretionary funding for Community Health Centers in the upcoming fiscal year.
The appropriations letter is crucial to NACHC’s strategy for securing funding as health centers continue to operate with uncertainty about securing long-term mandatory funding. The more representatives who sign the letter, the stronger the message to congressional leadership about the bipartisan consensus around health center funding. We expect the Appropriations Committee to announce the deadline for submitting the letter soon, meaning that health centers may only have a few weeks to convince their representatives to sign the letter.
In the previous Congress, great turnouts on our appropriations letters demonstrated the strong bipartisan support that exists for health centers and protected our funding in a divisive budgetary process. The 2024 fiscal year letter garnered 266 signatures, and the 2025 fiscal year letter garnered 281 signatures. You can view if your Representative signed either letter and track signatures on the 2026 fiscal year letter here.
Advocating for health centers is an exciting opportunity to connect with elected officials, share powerful stories about your health centers’ impact, and ensure continued support for our patients and communities. During the latest in-district work period, many health centers took advantage of opportunities to build and maintain relationships with their members of Congress.
As the House and Senate move forward with the budget reconciliation process, the in-district work period from April 14 to 25 is a timely opportunity to host lawmakers and showcase health centers’ impact and the importance of protecting patients’ access to Medicaid. Learn more in our recent blog post.
We need your help getting your representative to sign on! Contact your representatives and urge them to sign the letter in support of Community Health Centers’ funding in 2026. Follow NACHC’s instructions to contact your representatives by phone or email.