The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is asking for $5 million to spend on handing out “implicit bias training” grants for health care providers.
As reported by the Daily Caller, the HHS request is part of the Biden Administration’s overall 2023 budget proposal, which was released on Monday. The $5 million grant request from HHS would fall under the broader umbrella of “discretionary funding,” for which the administration proposes $127.3 billion. Overall, HHS asked for $1.7 trillion in mandatory budget authority for the coming fiscal year.
The grants in question would aim to “reduce and prevent implicit bias, racism, and discrimination in maternity care settings and to advance respectful, culturally congruent, trauma-informed care” through “implicit bias training.” This is the first time that HHS has requested funding for any form of so-called “anti-racism” efforts, and the department’s request specifically says that “equity” will be one of its signature policies in the next year.
Similarly, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) also says it will emphasize “equity” in the future. To this end, the CDC says that the new budget will promote “equity through the work of the federal government and helps ensure [federal] programs serve people of color and other marginalized populations.” The agency seeks to “achieve health equity” and “address the epidemic of systemic racism” through its own requests in the federal budget.
These requests with regards to “equity” and alleged “systemic racism” are in line with Biden’s broader agenda, which he set shortly after taking office with a series of executive orders focusing on “racial justice.”