By Madelyn Adams, SWHR Public Policy and Advocacy Manager
On August 2, the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced the fiscal year (FY) 2025 Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill (Labor-HHS). The committee approved the spending bill with a bipartisan 25-3 vote.
The bill includes substantial investments in public health agencies and programs, several of which align closely with the Society for Women’s Health Research’s (SWHR) programs and policy priorities. Included are an increase in base funding for the Office of Research on Women’s Health, support for the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research and commitment to enhanced investments in research on conditions that substantially impact women. We commend the Committee for its leadership in addressing such crucial health disparities and enhancing resources for women’s health research.
One of the key highlights of the bill is $48.8 billion base funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – a $2 billion increase over FY24– which includes $1.5 billion for the Advanced Research Program for Health (ARPA-H). In the report, The Committee expresses its support for ARPA-H’s Sprint for Women’s Health, a program focused on transformative research and development in women’s health, and the Committee urges the program to continue its work in improving women’s health outcomes. The Committee also provides $152.5 million in base funding, for the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) – which SWHR continues to play a key role in advocating for – , marking an $76 million increase for the office.
Furthermore, the Senate approved $44 million for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Office of Women’s Health [OWH]. In collaboration with OWH, the Committee calls on the NIH and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to research and report on women’s health conditions, including defining and evaluating conditions unique to women, assessing sex, gender, and racial disparities, and expresses support around the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research.
The bill includes a $20 million funding increase over FY2024 for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The Committee has also voiced strong support for NICHD’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network (MFMU), requesting updates on both past and future funding for this program. Additionally, the Committee has called for enhanced investment in the Implementing a Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) Initiative and reaffirmed its support for the important work being carried out in maternal mortality and morbidity programs and endometriosis research.
Other notable provisions include:
- $4 billion for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute [NHLBI]. The Committee expresses particular concern over the disproportionate impact of heart disease in women, particularly its status as the leading cause of death during and after pregnancy, with notable disparate impacts on Black women; the supports initiatives to address these disparities and highlights the need for greater research diversity.
- $685,000 for the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases [NIAMS], with the committee highlighting the disproportionate impact of alopecia areata on people of color, especially women of color, and urges NIAMS to collaborate on advancing research into its causes and treatments.
- $3.1 billion for the NIH Office of the Director. The committee advises NIH to fund research specifically focusing on Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic, and women-only studies to better understand cognitive impairment and dementia, which disproportionately affect these groups. The Committee also urges the development of common data elements (CDEs) for women’s health to enhance data sharing and accuracy. The Committee urges NIH to update in fiscal year 2026 on global cohort studies for Alzheimer’s treatment, noting that two-thirds of those living with Alzheimer’s disease are women. Finally, the committee asks the NIH to launch a comprehensive research agenda on menopause – focusing on expanding data collection, improving treatment options – consistent with the Executive Order on Advancing Women’s Health Research and Innovation.
- The Committee supported NIH’s commitment of $200 million to transform women’s health research, focusing on issues like perimenopause and menopause, and urges continued expansion and funding of related research.
- The Committee supports enhanced investment in women’s health research and directs NIH to prioritize funding, integrate the NIH’s sex as a biological variable (SABV) policy, and explore Artificial Intelligence (AI) to advance this field, with a progress update required within 90 days.
The report can be found here and full bill text can be found here.
SWHR thanks the Senate for acting on its support for women’s health equity and research, and hopes that the funding and direction listed above will continue through final iterations of this legislation. Commitments such as these will help critical research, address disparities, and improve healthcare outcomes for women across diverse populations.
For questions, please reach out to SWHR Public Policy and Advocacy Manager Madelyn Adams at policy[at]swhr.org.