By Madelyn Adams, MPA, Public Policy and Advocacy Manager
On July 31, the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced the fiscal year (FY) 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Act with strong bipartisan support in a 26–3 vote.
The draft bill includes meaningful increases in public health and biomedical research funding, indicating a shared appetite to continue funding for critical programs, many of which closely align with priorities of the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR). Below are some highlights from the bill. SWHR commends the Committee for working collaboratively to ensure that women’s health research remains a priority.
Under this bill, the topline funding for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would be increased by more than $440 million, bringing the agency’s discretionary budget to $116.6 billion. The HHS Office of Women’s Health (OWH) would be allocated $42.14 million, to include $200,000 in funding for the Pregnant and Lactating Women’s Advisory Committee to continue implementation of recommendations from the Task Force on Research Specific to Pregnant Women and Lactating Women (PRGLAC) and calls on the OWH to collaborate with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to study gaps in women’s health research and assess funding needs.
The bill also includes funding increases for the NIH – the single largest public funder of biomedical research in the world – allocating a $400 million increase to its overall budget, contrary to the proposed 40% cuts in the president’s budget. Notably, the bill also keeps NIH’s current structure intact and includes promising allocations to women’s health research. The bill allocates a $30 million increase for the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) – bringing the Office’s total funding to nearly $106.5 million – with $10 million for the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) program, which provides support for training, mentoring, and opportunities that enable scholars to develop independent research programs in women’s health.
Additionally, report language urges NIH to develop and implement standardized common data elements for women’s health and emphasizes various investments into menopause-specific research across HHS agencies, including $5,000,000 worth of funding to establish a new menopause initiative within the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Finally, the Committee proposed a $20 million increase within the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) for the Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) Initiative, which supports research to address maternal mortality – bringing the program’s total funding to $73.4 million – and increases investments in maternal health across the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including for programs that aim to improve maternal health outcomes.
These highlights represent a portion of the bill, which includes furthers details on these investments and others in research and programs related to Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, rare diseases, and other key areas relevant to women’s health. Please refer to the full bill text and accompanying report language for more information.
The House of Representatives is expected to consider its version of the legislation after the Labor Day Holiday.
As the appropriations process advances, SWHR urges Congress to work in a bipartisan manner to pass a full FY2026 funding bill by the September deadline to that ensure that biomedical research can continue uninterrupted and that women’s health remains a priority. SWHR thanks the Senate Appropriations Committee for highlighting women’s health and remains committed to advocating for strong investments in public health and research that improve outcomes for women.