April 09, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Hannah Muldavin, Hannah.Muldavin@mail.house.gov

Rep. Trone Praises President’s Budget for Proposed Investments in Fighting the Opioid and Mental Health Epidemics, Expanding Medical Research, and Reforming our Criminal Justice System

WASHINGTON – Following the release of President Biden’s fiscal year 2022 discretionary funding request, Representative David Trone (MD-06), a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, praised the request for the significant investment in fighting the opioid and mental health epidemics, investing in important medical research funding, and reforming our criminal justice system. 

“Our budget should reflect our values. President Biden’s budget request shows that this administration is committed to addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing our country today. This budget shows us how we can end the opioid epidemic that claimed the lives of a record number of Americans last year, ensure every American has access to quality and affordable mental health care, invest in medical research to prevent the next pandemic, and reform our criminal justice system to reduce our prison population,” said Rep. David Trone. “I look forward to working with President Biden to advance these much-needed priorities and build back better from the COVID pandemic.”

The request includes a nearly $4 billion increase to help end the opioid epidemic and $1.6 billion — more than double the 2021 enacted level — for the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant in order to address the mental health crisis that has been made worse due to COVID. The request includes $6.5 billion for the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which would focus on curing diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer. The request also supports decarceration efforts and funding to help in First Step Act (FSA) implementation.

Since 2011, austere budget caps imposed by the Budget Control Act have limited the amount of funding that Congress can provide for critical needs. With the budget caps expiring this year, Congress can finally provide long overdue funding increases for important initiatives. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Trone will have a leading role in determining federal funding.

Among its many important proposals, President Biden’s budget blueprint invests in:

• Healthier communities: Addresses crises exacerbated by the pandemic with $1.6 billion for mental health – double last year’s funding – and $200 million for maternal health.
• Good schools: Historic funding for education, including a $20 billion increase for high-poverty schools.

• Child care: Helps more families afford quality child care with a $1.5 billion increase.
• Public health and medical research: Strengthens the nation’s public health infrastructure with a record $8.7 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, $6.5 billion for ARPA-H – a new lifesaving medical research initiative, and $10.7 billion for opioid prevention and treatment.
• Housing: Expands vital Housing Choice Vouchers to 200,000 more families and expands Homeless Assistance Grants to support more than 100,000 additional households, helping solve the nation’s housing crisis.
• Safer neighborhoods: Fosters safer communities by providing $209 million civil rights enforcement, $1 billion for gender-based violence prevention, and $2.1 billion for gun violence prevention to foster safer communities.
• Worker protection: Protects workers’ wages, benefits, and rights with an increase of $304 million, 17 percent more than last year, for worker protection agencies.
• Action on climate: A whole-of-government approach that will help protect our environment for future generations, with a $14 billion increase over last year.
• Nutrition: Strengthens the nutrition assistance safety net to combat rising rates of hunger and nutrition insecurity and expands local food systems with nearly $4 billion in new investments.
• Infrastructure: Rebuilds crumbling infrastructure with increased funding for roads and bridges, transit systems, and water systems.

Congressman David Trone was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018 to serve the 6th District of Maryland, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties. Trone serves on the Appropriations Committee in the 117th Congress and previously served on the Education and Labor, Foreign Affairs, and Joint Economic Committees. In Congress, Trone is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the opioid epidemic, criminal justice reform, and funding for medical research.

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