FY25 Appropriations: Status Update and What it Means for Breastfeeding

The fiscal year 2025 appropriations process is underway. Follow the status of each of the spending bills in the Congressional Research Service Appropriations Status Table: FY2025.

​Funded provisions relevant to the lactation field can be found on the Federal Appropriations for Breastfeeding webpage. The webpage traces program funding levels at each step in the federal budget process.   

​The appropriations bills and associated reports also include a variety of unfunded or one-time directives. Related provisions are outlined below and in the July 2024 USBC blog “FY25 Appropriations: Current Status and Implications for Breastfeeding.”

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Department of Defense

​Senate Report
The Committee is concerned about the barriers to maternal healthcare for servicemembers and their spouses within the Military Health System including access to prenatal care, labor and delivery, and postpartum care. The Committee notes that the restructuring of military treatment facilities further limited the availability of maternal healthcare. Therefore, the Committee directs the Secretary of Defense to provide a report to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than 120 days after enactment of this act including the following: (1) an analysis of the availability of maternal healthcare for servicemembers and their spouses who access the Military Health System through such facilities; (2) the short and long-term actions being taken to address each barriers and increase access to maternal healthcare by the Defense Health Agency and the military services; (3) the costs associated with the implementation of these measures; and (4) potential funding sources in future budget requests.

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Financial Services and General Government
​Senate Bill
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a woman may breastfeed her child at any location in a Federal building or on Federal property, if the woman and her child are otherwise authorized to be present at the location.

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Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies

Senate Report
The Committee remains concerned with the maternal mortality crisis in the United States, which is even more acute in Native American communities. American Indian and Alaska Native women are two times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than White women, and 93 percent of pregnancy-related deaths among American Indian and Alaska Native women are preventable. The Committee recommendation supports funding for maternal health initiatives and provides an additional $1,000,000 for these efforts as noted above. The Committee reminds the IHS of the directive to brief the Committee within 90 days of enactment of this act on its plans for such funds. Further, the Committee directs IHS to coordinate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to further enhance its maternal health initiatives, which should include improved data collection to facilitate an agency-wide effort to improve outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native women.

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Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies

Senate Report
The Committee continues to support HHS initiatives to improve access to lactation support services for all individuals who choose to breastfeed. The Committee notes that despite guidance from the HHS Women's Preventive Services Initiative recommending that families receive comprehensive lactation support services to optimize the successful initiation and maintenance of breastfeeding, many families struggle to gain access to quality lactation care. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (Public Law 117–328) included funding for HHS to enter into an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to provide an evidence-based, non-partisan analysis of the macroeconomic, health, and social costs of U.S. breastfeeding rates and national breastfeeding goals. The Committee expects that this analysis should also examine how health insurers have implemented comprehensive lactation services, the standards set to determine reimbursement rates for breastfeeding supplies and services, and the current best practices used to provide coverage to help women breastfeed.

The Committee is aware that NICHD's current Maternal Health Research Centers of Excellence provide a platform to further both research and clinical care in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality. The Committee appreciates NIH's commitment to supporting Centers in areas of the country that see the highest rate of both. The Committee encourages NICHD to continue to expand its current Centers of Excellence with a particular emphasis on increasing support for existing centers and establishing new ones in regions of greatest need, eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in maternal morbidity, and training a diverse group of early-stage scientists in maternal health equity research.

The Committee continues to support Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) efforts to address the complex challenges of ensuring safe and healthy pregnancies and childbirth, particularly for underserved women who are at substantially higher risk of complication and death.

The Committee is particularly supportive of the Women's Bureau's work and dedication to supporting paid leave programs as part of their mission to support women's workforce participation. In order to study best practices in paid leave programs, the Women's Bureau should request data from State paid leave programs in order to publish a report about usage rates and distribution of paid leave at the State level as well as steps State paid leave programs are taking to support the full range of businesses and entrepreneurs.

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Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies

​Senate Report
The women veteran population is the fastest growing demographic within Veterans Affairs (VA) and is anticipated to grow from 800,000 enrolled in 2020 to over 1.2 million by 2030. As a result of the PACT Act, 27 percent of all new enrollees are expected to be women. VA must enhance its services and access to gender-specific care, including primary care providers, gynecologists, maternity care, mammography services, and mental health providers, including care related to experiences of military sexual trauma. Enhancing capacity to support pregnant and postpartum women veterans must also be a priority, which should include expansion of maternity care and lactation support for women veterans. Toward this end, the Committee recommendation includes $1,323,444,000 for fiscal year 2025, equal to the budget request, to support gender-specific healthcare services, as well as the program office and initiatives. VA is encouraged to use this funding to continue to expand this care so that all women veterans, including those in rural areas, have the access to care they deserve.

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Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs

​Senate Report
The USAID Administrator shall prioritize nutrition funding on the most cost-effective and evidence-based nutrition interventions and shall ensure integration of early childhood development interventions into nutrition programming. As part of the reporting requirements included in the Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act of 2021 (Public Law 117–214), the Administrator shall provide a comprehensive accounting of funds expended on procurement and distribution of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), as well as to support the provision of prenatal vitamins, breastfeeding support, and vitamin A supplementation.

Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the act, the USAID Administrator shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees on the nutrition outcomes achieved over the previous fiscal year, which shall include: (1) the outcomes, disaggregated by USAID bureau, including nutrition-specific treatment and prevention interventions on a country-by-country basis; (2) the approximate number of additional children treated for severe acute malnutrition and receiving vitamin A as a result of U.S. assistance; and (3) the approximate number of women receiving prenatal vitamins and breastfeeding education and support as a result of such assistance. The report should track progress towards the global targets on stunting, wasting, anemia, and breastfeeding, and shall include a valid estimate of funds expended to achieve each reported result and a description of the method of estimation used.

The Committee directs the Secretary of State to accelerate ongoing work to provide dedicated lactation rooms at all overseas locations and upgrade existing spaces in domestic and overseas facilities, consistent with all applicable Federal regulations. Funds are provided under this heading to undertake such projects in fiscal year 2025.

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Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies

Senate Report
The Committee recognizes Amtrak's work to implement lactation accommodations for nursing employees and customers, and encourages Amtrak to consider the continued expansion of such accommodations on board its trains and stations. Amtrak is directed to report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations within 180 days of this act with an assessment on the feasibility and demand for lactation spaces or other accommodations on board its trains or in stations, as well as cost estimates for the design and installation of such spaces or accommodations and if there are low-cost alternatives. ​

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What's next for the federal budget process?
In the coming months, the Senate will introduce the remaining appropriations bill and the House and Senate will work to advance each of the twelve appropriations bills. Once the full House and Senate have each passed their appropriations bills, they must be "conferenced" to work out any differences between the two versions. House-Senate conference committees make final determinations and prepare a Conference Report. The Conference Report is then passed by the House and the Senate and sent to the President to be signed. All appropriations bills must be completed by the end of the fiscal year on September 30, or Congress will have to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded at the start of FY 2025 on October 1. 
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• Learn more on the Federal Appropriations for Breastfeeding webpage.
• Urge Congress to support funding for breastfeeding with our easy action tool.

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We are so grateful for your partnership, engagement, and support. Thank you!