Congress Kicks Off FY 2027 Appropriations Process

With Congressional passage of the final fiscal year (FY) 2026 funding agreement, lawmakers in Congress are quickly turning their attention to the start of the FY 2027 appropriations process with the goal of enacting the various appropriations bills needed to fund government agencies by the start of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1. Notably, the injury and violence prevention research community notched a major victory when Congress approved its FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill, which fully funded all current programs administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (Injury Center). The focus this year will be to replicate the playbook that facilitated this critical victory.

To help build support in Congress for continued Injury Center funding at their current level, SAVIR is supporting Safe States’ work with their champions in Congress to draft and circulate “Dear Colleague” letters that give lawmakers the opportunity to sign on in support of full funding for the Injury Center. The goal of the House and Senate “Dear Colleague” letters is to generate as many signatures as possible as the more signatures a letter carries the greater the likelihood that appropriators will work to respond to the funding requests noted in the letter.

During the start of the appropriations process there are literally hundreds of such “Dear Colleague” letter circulating on Capitol Hill with lawmakers working to build support for those federal programs that are important to the communities they represent. Rather than sift through each individual letter, lawmakers rely on their constituents to call attention to the letters that deserve their consideration.

As such, it is vital that members of the IVP research community urge their Senators and Representative to sign the “Dear Colleague” letters in support of the Injury Center. In the Senate, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ed Makey (D-MA), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) are working to finalize and circulate a letter in their chamber and in the House, Reps. Gwen Moore (D-WI) and Mike Quigley (D-IL) are working to finalize a companion letter.

SAVIR will circulate an announcement in the days ahead once these letters have been finalized and will point you to the Safe States’ advocacy action center to allow you to communicate directly with members of your Congressional delegation. Please be on the lookout for a follow-up communication and help us notch another vital victory for the IVP research community during the FY 2027 appropriation process!

For questions, please contact Paul.Bonta@safestates.org.