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Senators want health centers funded before $$ run out

More than 60 U.S. Senators want immediate action taken to extend funding for community health centers by the end of this month before funding runs out. Led by Senators Roy Blunt of Missouri and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, the bipartisan request has been sent to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Blunt, who chairs the subcommittee that funds the Department of Health and Human Services, says the “funding cliff” far exceeds what can be addressed through the appropriations process. The 10-thousand centers care for many rural residents.  Without an extension, the letter says, those centers stand to lose 70-percent of their funding and nearly 3-thousand would have to close.