Coalition Urges for $5bn From Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill to be Restored

October 17, 2019

Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Chairman Shelby and Ranking Member
Leahy:

The undersigned members of the Injury and Violence Prevention Network (www.safestates.org/?IVPN) ask that you restore the $5 billion diverted from the FY 2020 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill to fund border security and provide a minimum of $700 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC). This funding request aligns with the public health community’s 22% by 2022 campaign aimed at increasing CDC’s total funding to the level needed to address public health priorities and compliments the FY 2020 NCIPC funding level endorsed by the House of Representatives.

Injuries and violence are the leading cause of death during the first four decades of life, regardless of gender, race or socioeconomic status. According to the CDC, every three minutes a person dies from a preventable injury or act of violence including domestic violence, falls, motor vehicle collisions, homicides, prescription drug misuse, and suicide. This accounts for 231,191 deaths, 32 million emergency department visits, and 3 million hospitalizations totaling $671 billion in health care expenditures, lost pay and productivity. Suicide alone represents $69 billion of those costs. It is vital that we expand NCIPC’s ability to bolster state-based injury and violence prevention efforts across the country.

For example, funding for the NCIPC’s Core State Violence and Injury Prevention Program (SVIPP) can only reach 23 states due to the limited funds available. Core SVIPP is a program that provides foundational support to stand up injury and violence prevention programs in state health departments, yet funding falls well short of the $20 million required for nationwide implementation.

The House of Representatives recently took action to approve the following FY 2020 increases for the
NCIPC:
• $2 million for child sexual abuse prevention;
• $10.5 million for rape prevention;
• $10 million for primary prevention of suicide;
• $25 million for firearm injury and mortality prevention research;
• $2 million for the National Violent Death Reporting System;
• $1 million for elderly falls prevention;
• $2 million for drowning prevention; and,
• $2 million for the Injury Control Research Centers.

In addition to these funding increases, the House of Representative adopted several amendments to expand our nation’s response to the opioid epidemic. This epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats in our nation’s history as it claims the lives of more than 90 Americans every day. The economic burden of this epidemic stands at more than $504 billion, an estimate calculated by the Council of Economic Advisers based on 2015 data. This alarming loss of life must be addressed using evidencebased approaches that expand access and utilization of both treatment and prevention strategies. Yet, precious little funding has been allocated to support the design and implementation of true primary prevention programs.

Efforts to address injury and violence prevention have long garnered bipartisan and bicameral support. IVPN calls on you to continue this tradition and recognize the value of NCIPC investments by restoring the $5 billion diverted from the FY 2020 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill to fund border security and provide a minimum of $700 million to the NCIPC. Please feel free to contact Paul Bonta, Director of Government Relations for the Safe States Alliance, at Paul.Bonta@SafeStates.org should you have any questions or wish to discuss this further.

Sincerely,
American Academy of Pediatrics
American College of Preventive Medicine
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
American Physical Therapy Association
American Psychological Association
American Public Health Association
American Trauma Society
Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
Big Cities Health Coalition
Brain Injury Association of America
Child Injury Prevention Alliance
Children’s Hospital Association
Committee for Children
Comprehensive Injury Center at Medical College of Wisconsin
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
Education Development Center
Futures Without Violence
Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy
JPS Health Network
Kids in Danger
Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse
at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
National Alliance to End Sexual Violence
National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems
National Association of County and City Health Officials
National Association of State Health Injury Administrators
National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence
National Safety Council
Prevent Child Abuse America
Prevention Institute
Safe Kids Worldwide
Safe States Alliance
Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR)
Society for Public Health Education
Trust for America’s Health
YMCA of the USA