Support Long-Term Funding for Community Health Centers

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOMEZ. Mr. Speaker, we are just days away from another funding cliff for our community health centers.

This is unacceptable. Our Nation's community health centers need stable, long-term funding to serve the most vulnerable patients in our communities effectively.

Community health centers are a bright spot in our Nation's healthcare system. Last year, they served 29 million patients across the country, including 693,000 who visited 74 different sites in my district alone. Community health centers like Clinica Romero in Boyle Heights provide care to immigrants, low-income individuals, communities of color, and the homeless.

For many Americans, community health centers are the first and only place they turn when they need to see a medical professional. Making sure that these Americans receive the care they need is good for our healthcare system, for our economy, and for working families in all of our communities.

We have long had bipartisan support on community health centers, but our failure to provide long-term funding hurts their ability to budget and plan. It creates uncertainty and has an impact on the patients they serve, including hundreds of thousands of my constituents.

With them in mind, I urge my colleagues to join me to support stable, long-term funding for our Nation's community health centers.

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