After a week spent honoring the victims of the shooting in Tucson, Congress returns this week to legislative business.

As most health center advocates know from news reports (and our Health Center Advocacy Alert that went out yesterday), on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 2, a bill to repeal the health reform law (the Affordable Care Act).  Debate on the measure starts today. In previous posts, we’ve shared a special message from NACHC Senior Vice President of Policy and Research Dan Hawkins on the importance of communicating a clear, but respectful, message from health center advocates on this vote. Click here to read Dan’s message.

Today, NACHC’s President and CEO Tom Van Coverden made a statement on the upcoming repeal vote, click here to read this important statement.

As we know, Wednesday’s vote is the first of many actions the new Congress will be taking over the course of the next two years that are of interest to health centers and their patients. To quote Dan’s message, improving the health of our nation is a marathon, not a sprint.

While the repeal vote takes center stage on the House floor, plenty of important action is taking place behind the scenes. At the end of last week, House Republicans held their annual retreat in Baltimore, MD and issues such as the Republican proposal to cut $100 billion in spending were front and center in that meeting. The new majority is working to settle on a specific approach to meeting this goal and multiple options are on the table.

House Committees are also gearing up, as new chairs in the House begin floating out pieces of their agendas.

This week is only the starting point of what will be a very active session for health center advocates, stay tuned to Health Centers on the Hill and we’ll make sure you have all the latest.