WALSH SUCCESSFULLY FIGHTS ADMINISTRATION CUTS TO POISON CONTROL CENTERS NATIONWIDE

Congressman Preserves Safety Net for New York Families

(Washington D.C.)- New York Congressman Jim Walsh, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, successfully inserted language in upcoming appropriations legislation to restore FY 2007 funding at $23 million for the nation’s poison control centers. 

Recently, the Health Resources and Service Administration within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had moved to reduce FY 2007 funding by 42%, severely impacting poison control center program operations nationwide.  The cuts would have negatively impacted the Upstate New York Poison Control Center at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse and the Finger Lakes Regional Poison & Drug Information Center at URMC’s Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

“In addition to providing 24/7 hotline services to Upstate New York families, these poison control centers in Syracuse and Rochester provide important outreach and educational services intended to keep our kids safe,” said Walsh.  “This proposed reduction in HRSA funding would have resulted in double digit cuts in federal resources provided to our regional centers which service communities in 46 counties in New York State.”

Walsh included the language in the FY 2007 wartime supplemental appropriations bill, which was conferenced in the House and Senate on Monday.  Congressman Walsh, as Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, was a conferee.

While Walsh anticipates that the current wartime supplemental bill as written will be vetoed by the President, the poison control program language will be included in a subsequent clean wartime supplemental stripped of Iraq timetable language.

END

(####)

Home | Press List