Tracking the FY 2019 Spending Bills in Congress

As noted in an earlier post, the Hydrocephalus Association joined 35 other patient groups in asking Congress to protect funding for hydrocephalus-related research programs at the Department of Defense (DoD) — and it worked!

Legislators agreed to not restrict access to Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). After years of working on this issue, this is a big win for our community.

Now our attention turns to funding for the program, which is being considered as part of the FY 19 appropriations process. The House and Senate have passed separate bills, each funding the program at between $750 and $760 million dollars. It’s likely that several appropriations bills, including the Department of Defense bill which funds the CDMRP, will be merged into one. Congress will need to take action before September 30th in order to avoid a government shutdown. While we’re not anticipating a funding fight specifically related to the CDMRP, stay tuned as we track this in September.

Learn about DoD-Funded Hydrocephalus Research Studies

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