Thanks to the hard work of thousands of community health center advocates and supporters on Capitol Hill, both the House and Senate on September 25 unanimously passed H.R. 1343, the Health Care Safety Net Act of 2008 which was sent to the President who signed it on October 8. This essential bill reauthorizes the Community Health Centers program through FY2012, and includes targeted increases in funding consistent with the ACCESS for All America Plan. The bill also reauthorizes the National Health Service Corps and makes automatic-HPSA designation for community health centers permanent. These provisions are key to community health centers' ability to meet future health care needs.

Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and the lead sponsor of the Health Center Reauthorization bill stated, "In this time of economic crisis, when both the cost of health care and the number of uninsured are rising, our commitment to the community health centers is more important than ever...I look forward to getting the bill to the President's desk and seeing it enacted into law."

Because of the overwhelming grassroots support, H.R. 1353 was passed by a simple voice vote. This is a tremendous victory for Community Health Centers!