The House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year (FY) 2023 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill on June 29, 2022. The bill contains a total of $17.86 billion for the operational costs of the State Department and related agencies. Within this amount, the State Department will have an opportunity to strengthen and expand the foreign-trained health care professional workforce.

In addition to approving the bill, the Committee also amended and made public the report, accompanying the bill. The bill’s “report” sheds light on congressional priorities and directives for programs, use of federal resources, and concerns of congressional members.

Timely Processing of Visas and Passports. The House Appropriations Committee FY 2023 report for the State, Foreign Operations Appropriations bill directs the Secretary of State to dedicate the necessary resources to ensure visa applications (and passports) are processed in a timely manner. The Committee also directs the Department to continue to seek technological and procedural alternatives to streamline processes where possible to enhance consular services overseas, and domestically, and update the Committee 60 days after enactment of the bill, on the status of their activities.

Foreign-trained Medical Professionals and Visa Processing Fees. The report also state’s the Committee’s support for the critical role foreign-trained medical professionals play in ensuring the health and safety of many Americans, and especially when communities suffer from provider shortages. The Committee directs the Secretary of State to take appropriate actions to ensure the timely processing of visas for foreign-trained workers. Additionally, the Committee further directs the Secretary to appropriately weigh the impact of increases in visa processing fees on petitioners and employers prior to increasing such fees.

LeadingAge Request. Many LeadingAge members employ nursing staff born overseas and are interested in employing more of them. The report language in the FY 2023 State, Foreign Operations Appropriations bill supports several LeadingAge requests, and those made by a coalition of national long-term care organizations. We have sent several sign-on letters requesting assistance from federal agencies (the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Department of Labor) with expediting and improving the visa application process for nurses and foreign health care workers, so these workers could be employed within aging services communities. LeadingAge members have also expressed concerns with the long backlogs and waits for embassy interviews, and we have made these concerns known with the appropriate federal agencies.

Next Steps. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Appropriations bill after the July 4^th Congressional recess. The Senate Appropriations Committee is also expected to take action on their bills prior to the August Congressional Recess. Ideally, the 12 federal appropriations bills to fund the federal government must be formally adopted prior to the new fiscal year, which begins, October 1. LeadingAge will continue to advocate for its key workforce priorities for older adults as the FY 2023 Appropriations bills move through this process.

You can access the State-Foreign Operations bill is here.

The bill report is available here.